BANCROFT    LIBRAKf 


An  Engraving  by  Davignon,  made  in  1853  while  Houston  was  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  (Original  copyrighted  by  W.  L.  Hollings- 
worth,  and  heretofore  unpublished.) 


THE  REPUBLIC 
OF  TEXAS 

A  Brief  History  of  Texas  from  the  First 

American  Colonies  in  1821  to 

Annexation  in  1846 

By 

CLARENCE  R.  WHARTON 


Published  by 
C.  C  YOUNG  PRINTING  COMPANY 

Houston,  Texas,  January,  1922 
Copyrighted  1922  by  Clarence  R.  Wharton 


"Give  me  a  land  where  the  battle's  red  blast 
Has  flashed  to  the  future  the  fame  of  the  past. 

Give  me  a  land  that  hath  legends  and  lays, 

That  tell  of  the  memories  of  long  vanished  days, 

Yes,  give  me  a  land  with  a  grave  in  each  spot, 
And  names  on  the  graves  that  shall  not  ~be  forgot. 

FATHER  RYAN. 


77 


CONTENTS 


Page 

The  Colonies _ 7 

The  Revolution  81 

The  Republic 157 

Annexation  of  Texas  ...  .  195 


PREFACE 


When  the  Austins  came  in  1821  and  opened  the  way  for 
people  from  the  States,  Texas  history  had  its  real  begin- 
ning. Fifteen  years  later  San  Jacinto  was  fought  and  won 
and  for  ten  years  more  Texas  was  a  Republic.  Then  after 
one  of  the  greatest  political  battles  in  American  history, 
it  became  a  State.  This  twenty-five  years  is  the  heroic 
period  of  Texas  history. 

When  the  Democrats  met  in  convention  in  Baltimore  in 
1844,  the  Whigs  had  nominated  Henry  Clay  and  declared 
against  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  ignored  the  acquisi- 
tion of  Oregon.  Powerful  forces  among  the  Democrats,  led 
by  Van  Buren  and  aided  by  Benton,  worked  to  commit  the 
party  to  the  same  course.  But  the  Southern  leaders  seized 
the  machinery  of  the  convention,  overthrew  Van  Buren, 
and  named  James  K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  and  boldly  de- 
clared for  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  acquisition  of 
Oregon.  The  election  of  Polk  committed  the  American 
people  to  both  propositions.  The  advent  of  Texas  into  the 
Union  was  followed  not  only  by  all  the  country  west  to 
the  Pacific,  but  North  to  the  present  Canadian  border. 
San  Jacinto  set  the  tide  of  Saxon  supremacy  toward  the 
Pacific  and  was  indeed  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of  the 
world. 

CLARENCE  E.  WHARTON. 
Houston,  Texas. 
January  1, 1922. 


I  have  consulted  every  work  bearing  upon  Texas  History 
which  has  ever  been  published  as  far  as  I  know,  and  many 
original  sources  of  information  as  well.  I  desire  to  make 
special  acknowledgment  of  material  and  from  valuable  in- 
formation collated  by  Mr.  Justin  H.  Smith  in  his  elaborate 
work  upon  the  annexation  of  Texas  published  by  the  Mc- 
Millan Company  in  1919. 

C.  R.  WHARTON. 


THE  COLONIES 

i. 

FIRST  COLONIAL  GRANT  TO  MOSES  AUSTIN. 

January  17,  1921,  marked  the  one  hundredth  year  since 
the  first  colonial  grant  in  Texas  to  Moses  Austin. 

At  the  beginning  of  that  year  Spanish  authority  still 
nominally  prevailed  over  Mexico,  or  New  Spain,  as  it  was 
much  called,  though  the  war  .for  Mexican  independence  had 
been  raging  since  1810. 

Mexico,  which  for  three  centuries  had  been  governed  by 
Spanish  viceroys,  was  a  vast  country  greater  in  area  than 
any  nation  of  the  world  save  Russia  and  China.  It  was 
divided  into  twelve  Intendencies,  the  sixth  of  which  was 
San  Luis  Potosi,  which  was  itself  divided  into  four  prov- 
inces and  four  districts,  one  of  which  provinces  was  Texas. 
Texas  was  practically  uninhabited  except  by  roving  bands 
of  warlike  Indians.  There  were  squalid  Spanish  or  Mexi- 
can settlements  at  San  Antonio,  Nacogdoches,  La  Bahia 
and  a  few  other  -places,  remnants  of  the  old  missions  which 
had  failed. 

The  seat  of  government  for  this  province,  if  it  could  be 
so  dignified,  was  at  San  Antonio,  which  had  been  founded 
nearly  a  century  before.  The  Spanish  policy  was  one  of  ab- 
solute exclusion  of  all  foreigners.  There  was  considerable 
doubt  about  the  Spanish  title  to  Texas  and  this  Government 
determined  to  permit  no  intrusion  by  people  from  the  States 
or  elsewhere. 

Philip  Nolan,  who  came  into  Texas  in  1812  for  the  very 


FIRST  COLONIAL  GRANT  TO  MOSES  AUSTIN 

peaceful  purpose  of  hunting  wild  horses,  was  killed  by 
Spanish  soldiers.  Such  of  his  comrades  as  survived  were 
carried  into  captivity.  The  Mexican  or  Spanish  people  had 
made  no  headway  in  settling  here  because  of  the  hostility  of 
the  Indians,  and  because  there  were  no  rich  mines  in  Texas 
which  would  lure  the  gold  hunters  who  made  the  first  set- 
tlements in  Mexico,  and  who  later  filled  California. 

In  December,  1820,  Moses  Austin,  a  native  of  Connecti- 
cut, came  on  horseback  from  Washington  County,  Missouri, 
where  he  then  resided,  and  presented  himself  to  the  Spanish 
Governor  at  San  Antonio,  seeking  permission  to  found  a 
colony  in  Texas.  He  was  ordered  to  forthwith  leave  the 
country,  and  when  about  to  obey  this  mandatory  instruction, 
he  met  upon  the  Military  Plaza  the  Baron  de  Bastrop,  a 
Belgian  soldier  of  fortune  then  temporarily  in  the  service  of 
the  Spanish  Government.  Bastrop  and  Austin  had  met  in 
a  restaurant  in  New  Orleans  years  before  and  renewed  their 
chance  acquaintance  upon  the  Plaza  just  as  Austin  was 
about  to  resume  his  long,  doleful  journey  back  to  the  States. 

Austin  was  in  fact  a  Spanish  subject,  he  having  been 
naturalized  as  such  while  living  in  Missouri  in  1799,  at 
which  date  Louisana,  which  included  Missouri,  was  under 
Spanish  dominion.  Bastrop  interceded  with  the  Spanish 
Governor,  and  that  dignitary  being  convinced  that  Austin 
was  not  a  foreigner  accepted  his  petition  for  permission 
to  settle  three  hundred  families  in  Texas.  The  Governor 
at  San  Antonio,  however,  could  not  act  upon  this  petition, 
and  on  December  26th,  1820,  he  forwarded  it  with  a  letter 
recommending  its  acceptance  to  the  Superior  Government 
at  Monterey.  This  memorial  was  granted  by  the  Spanish 
authorities  at  the  latter  place  representing  the  Supreme 
Government  of  the  Eastern  Internal  Provinces  of  New 
Spain  on  the  17th  day  of  January,  1821. 


8 


FIRST  COLONIAL  GRANT  TO  MOSES  AUSTIN 

Just  what  caused  the  Spanish  authorities  to  revoke  their 
policy  of  nearly  two  centuries  with  reference,  to  allowing 
foreigners  to  come  into  Texas  is  a  matter  of  much  interest. 
Some  students  of  those  times  say  that  it  was  because  there 
had  been  a  permanent  boundary  settlement  between  the 
United  States  and  Spain  at  the  time  of  the  Florida  pur- 
chase in  1819,  which  lead  the  Spanish  authorities  to  feel 
that  the  United  States  had  permanently  recognized  the  Sa- 
bine  as  the  boundary  between  the  two  countries.  Stephen 
Austin  himself  stated  in  after  life  that  the  purpose  of  the 
Spanish  and  Mexican  Governments  in  making  these  grants 
was  to  get  American  colonists  into  Texas  who  would  reclaim 
the  country  from  the  wild  Indians.  The  vast  importance 
of  this  event,  the  granting  of  this  first  colonial  privilege, 
one  hundred  years  ago,  is  not  always  fully  understood. 
It  can  be  said  with  much  emphasis  that  it  was  as 
important  in  American  history  and  even  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  as  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth  two  centuries  before.  It  made  the  way  for 
American  colonization  and  civilization  in  Texas,  and  de- 
termined that  the  vast  country  between  the  Rio  Grande  and 
the  Oregon  should  be  Saxon  rather  than  Latin. 

Moses  Austin  started  back  to  the  States  about  January 
1st,  1821,  going  by  Nachitoches,  Louisiana,  where  he  met  his 
son  Stephen.  The  long  journey  across  this  trackless  country 
with  the  hardships  incident  thereto  so  imperiled  Austin's 
health  that  he  reached  home  an  invalid,  and  died  early  the 
the  following  June. 

The  Spanish  authorities  at  Monterey,  after  granting  Aus- 
tin's petition  on  January  17th,  sent  Don  Erasmus  Seguin  to 
the  United  States  to  communicate  to  Austin  the  result  of  his 
petition,  and  to  officially  conduct  Austin  and  his  three 
hundred  families  into  Texas.  Moses  Austin  received  the 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  VICEROYS 

information  that  this  petition  had  been  accepted  while  on 
his  death  bed  and  passed  to  his  son,  Stephen  F.  Austin, 
the  legacy  of  fulfilling  the  commission. 


II. 
THE  LAST  OF  THE  VICEROYS. 

The  act  of  the  Spanish  Commandant  at  Monterey  in  ac- 
cepting Moses  Austin's  petition  and  according  him  the 
privilege  of  colonizing  three  hundred  American  families 
in  Texas,  was  the  first  and  last  of  its  kind  ever  made  by 
the  Spanish  authorities  of  Mexico  or  New  Spain.  It  was 
a  complete  reversion  of.  the  Spanish  policy  of  more  than 
two  centuries.  Very  recently  Texas  historical  students 
have  found  an  old  decree  of  the  Spanish  Cortes  passed  in 
1820  authorizing  the  Spanish  authorities  in  Mexico  to 
grant  colonization  privileges.  This  decree  does  not  seem  to 
have  ever  been  published  either  in  Mexico  or  Texas,  but 
evidently  instructions  with  reference  thereto  had  been  sent 
to  the  Spanish  authorities  in  Mexico,  and  this  may  account 
for  the  granting  of  Austin's  petition.  But  this  grant  to 
Austin  of  January  17,  1821,  was  among  the  last  acts  of 
Spanish  sovereignty  in  Mexico.  The  war  for  Mexican  inde- 
pendence had  been  raging  for  more  than  ten  years. 

Augustin  de  Iturbede  was  a  Spanish  officer  of  great 
ability  and  lead  the  royalist  forces.  He  had  been  called  the 
Prince  Rupert  of  the  Spanish  Army.  On  Febuary  24th, 
1821,  he  suddenly  changed  allegiance  and  announced  him- 
self in  favor  of  the  patriot  cause.  On  that  date  he  pub- 
lished the  celebrated  plan  of  Iguala,  which  is  regarded  as 

10 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  VICEROYS 

the  official  beginning  of  Mexican  independence.  From 
that  time  on  it  was  obvious  that  the  Spanish  authority  in 
North  America  was  practically  at  an  end.  In  August,  1821, 
Don  Juan  O'Donoju,  the  62nd,  and  last  of  the  Spanish 
viceroys  (and  he  was  an  Irishman),  arrived  at  Vera  Cruz 
to  assume  the  Government  of  Mexico.  He  at  once  saw  the 
futility  of  further  effort  to  maintain  Spanish  sovereignty, 
and  set  about  to  arrange  a  peace  in  which  there  would 
be  some  advantage  to  Spain,  and  sought  a  compact  by 
which  some  member  of  the  Spanish  Royal  family  would  be- 
come ruler  of  Mexico. 

On  August  23rd,  1821,  Santa  Anna  arranged  a  meeting 
between  the  new  viceroy  and  Iturbede,  and  on  September 
23rd,  mounted  on  a  black  charger,  Iturbede  entered  the  City 
of  Mexico  amidst  a  scene  of  wild  enthusiasm.  He  was  ten- 
dered golden  keys  upon  a  silver  platter  by  the  first  Alcalde 
of  the  city,  and  Mexico  in  point  of  fact  became  on  that  date 
an  independent  nation  and  began  that  long,  pitiful  career  of 
anarchy  which  with  slight  intermission  has  prevailed  for 
a  hundred  years.  On  the  7th  of  October,  1821,  O'Donoju 
(O'Donohoo),  scholar,  gentleman  and  diplomat,  broken  in 
health  and  spirit  by  the  loss  of  New  Spain  to  his  country, 
died  in  the  City  of  Mexico  and  was  interred  in  the  Chapel 
of  Los  Reyes.  Bancroft  observes  that  with  the  celebration 
of  his  funeral  rites  the  last  shadow  of  vice  regal  presence 
and  power  passed  forever. 

While  these  events  were  going  forward  in  Mexico,  Stephen 
P.  Austin,  the  first  of  the  Empresarios,  was  pushing  the 
enterprise  begun  by  his  father,  and  He  did  not  learn  of  the 
change  of  sovereignty  that  was  taking  place  until  he 
reached  San  Antonio  in  August,  1821.  He  went  to  New 
Orleans  early  in  the  year  and  began  preparations  for  carry- 
ing out  his  great  plans.  Upon  hearing  that  the  petition  had 

11 


STEPHEN  FULLER  AUSTIN 

been  granted  lie  left  New  Orleans  in  June,  1821,  and  went 
up  to  Nachitoches  to  meet  Seguin,  who  came  there  as  the 
special  envoy  of  the  Spanish  Government  to  convey  official 
notice  of  the  grant  of  January  17th  to  Moses  Austin. 


III. 


STEPHEN  FULLER  AUSTIN,  THE  FIRST  AND 
GREATEST  EMPRESARIO. 

Stephen  F.  Austin  can  easily  be  recognized  as  one  of  the 
great  colonial  leaders  of  the  English  speaking  people. 

When  we  reflect  that  it  was  less  than  fifteen  years  from 
the  advent  of  his  first  colony  in  December,  1821,  until  the 
Battle  of  San  Jacinto  and  the  Republic,  one  must  look  in 
vain  for  so  great  an  achievement  in  so  short  a  time  else- 
where on  this  continent. 

The  Spanish  Commandant  at  Monterey  had  dispatched 
Don  Erasmus  Seguin  to  the  States  to  inform  Austin  that 
his  petition  iiad  been  granted,  and  Don  Erasmus,  with  a 
small  party  of  Spaniards  from  San  Antonio,  had  proceeded 
along  the  Old  Spanish  Trail  to  Nachitoches,  Louisiana, 
where  they  waited  to  meet  Moses  Austin.  Austin's  failing 
health  had  warned  him  of  his  approaching  death,  and  he 
arranged  for  his  son,  Stephen,  to  come  from  New  Orleans 
and  meet  Seguin  and  take  charge  of  the  enterprise.  Ste- 
phen left  New  Orleans  on  June  18th,  1821,  and  proceeded 
to  Nachitoches,  where  he  met  Seguin  and  received  formal 
confirmation  of  the  Spanish  grant  to  his  father. 

On  July  2nd,  1821,  Austin  and  his  small  party,  along 
with  Seguin 's  party,  left  Nachitoches  for  San  Antonio  by 

12 


STEPHEN  FULLER  AUSTIN 

way  of  Nacogdoches.  Austin  was  accompanied  by  a  few 
daring  spirits  who,  hearing  of  his  proposed  plans,  had 
joined  him  on  his  first  journey  to  Texas.  Among  those 
who  rode  with  him  were  Doctor  James  Hewiston,  well  known 
in  the  early  colonial  days.  A  few  years  later  Doctor  Hewis- 
ton joined  with  James  Powers  in  founding  the  Powers  and 
Hewiston  Colony  of  Irish  immigrants  in  southwest  Texas. 
The  last  glimpse  we  get  of  Doctor  Hewiston  was  in  1842, 
when  he  was  practicing  medicine  at  Saltillo  and  adminis- 
tered mercies  to  the  unhappy  men  of  Mier. 

William  Little,  from  St.  Louis,  accompanied  Austin.  He 
afterwards  located  his  headright  league  in  Fort  Bend  Coun- 
ty, where  he  lived  for  many  years,  and  his  plantation  be- 
came a  steamboat  landing  in  the  later  days  of  Brazos  Navi- 
gation. On  July  10th,  as  the  party  proceeded  towards  the 
Texas  frontier,  a  message  overtook  them  bringing  to  Austin 
the  melancholy  news  of  the  death  of  his  father,  which  had 
occurred  in  Missouri  on  June  10th.  The  party  pressed  for- 
ward and  on  Monday,  July  16th,  1821,  entered  the  province 
of  Texas  and  rode  on  to  Nacogdoches,  which  they  reached 
on  July  20th.  In  Austin's  report  of  their  visit  to  Nacog- 
doches he  says:  "This  place  was  in  ruins.  There  yet  re- 
mained one  church,  seven  residences,  and  a  total  population 
of  thirty-six  inhabitants."  The  whole  of  this  thirty-six 
were  assembled  and  received  instructions  from  Don  Eras- 
mus representing  his  Catholic  Majesty,  the  King  of  Spain. 
He  advised  the  people  of  Nacogdoches  that  it  was  the  King's 
pleasure  that  the  whole  community  move  further  east  to- 
ward the  Louisiana  line,  and  they  one  and  all  acquiesced 
in  this  modest  request,  and  agreed  to  migrate  eastward  upon 
short  notice.  Don  Erasmus  advised  that  he  would  return 
from  San  Antonio  in  the  early  autumn  and  complete  the 
details  for  this  exodus.  These  matters  of  state  having  been 

13 


SAN  ANTONIO  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO 

properly  dispatched,  the  whole  party  proceeded  on  towards 
San  Antonio,  which  was  the  next  habitation. 


IV. 
SAN  ANTONIO— ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO. 

From  Nacogdoches  to  San  Antonio  is  not  so  far  in  these 
Pullman  days,  but  it  was  quite  a  journey  one  hundred  years 
ago. 

Austin  and  Seguin,  along  with  their  little  party,  left 
Nacogdoches  on  July  21st,  following  the  old  San  Antonio 
road.  They  supplied  themselves  with  meat  by  killing  deer 
and  buffalo  as  they  went  along. 

On  Sunday,  August  12th,  they  reached  the  Guadaloupe, 
where  they  went  into  camp,  and  a  messenger  from  San  An- 
tonio met  them  there  bringing  news  of  the  independence  of 
Mexico.  There  were  fifteen  or  twenty  Spaniards  in  the 
party,  and  they  received  this  information  with  manifesta- 
tions of  great  joy. 

The  party  arrived  at  San  Antonio  three  weeks  after  leav- 
ing Nacogdoches  and  considered  that  the  journey  had 
been  made  in  a  very  reasonable  time. 

Old  San  Antonio,  the  most  interesting  city  in  Texas, 
is  rich  with  rare  traditions  dear  to  the  student  of  history. 
It  had  its  beginnings  more  than  one  hundred  years  before 
the  advent  of  the  Austins,  and  had  been  the  most  important 
place  in  Texas  during  the  last  century.  The  chain  of  mis- 
sions, now  in  ruins,  which  one  yet  sees  along  the  river,  are 
evidence  of  futile  efforts  of  Spain  to  evangelize  and  colonize 
north  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Authorities  vary  as  to  the  popu- 


14 


SAN  ANTONIO  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO 

lation  of  San  Antonio  at  this  time,  but  from  the  best  in- 
formation obtainable  the  population  varied  about  as  much 
as  the  reports  that  we  now  get.  It  was  a  floating  and  more 
or  less  transient  populace  and  varied  from  3,000  to 
5,000.  A  few  years  before,  Colonel  Zebulon  M.  Pike,  of 
the  United  States  Army,  had  come  through  Texas  charged 
with  a  mission  from  President  Jefferson,  and  he  gives  a 
very  interesting  account  of  his  short  visit  in  San  Antonio, 
where  he  reports  having  met  some  very  refined  and  cul- 
tured Spanish  people.  For  the  most  part  the  inhabitants 
dwelt  in  miserable  houses  with  mud  walls  and  grass  thatched 
roofs.  During  the  more  than  two  centuries  which  had  pre- 
ceded, the  Spanish  title  to  Texas  had  been  in  much 
doubt  and  the  policy  of  rigid  exclusion  which  had  pre- 
vailed was  due  to  the  fear  that  either  French  or  English  ex- 
plorers would  traverse  the  country  and  lay  claim  to  it. 
Spain  was  very  much  in  the  position  of  a  man  who  claims 
a  tract  of  land  with  a  doubtful  title  and  who  is  depending 
upon  its  possession  alone  to  supply  the  defects  in  his 
title. 

When  it  was  evident  that  the  Spanish  missions  would 
fail,  the  whole  colonization  scheme  seems  to  have  been 
abandoned. 

In  1730,  nearly  one  hundred  years  before  the  time  about 
which  we  write,  the  Spanish  Government  made  an  effort 
to  transplant  people  from  its  island  colonies  to  Texas  and 
actually  brought  fifteen  families  from  the  Canary  Islands 
who  were  permanently  located  in  San  Antonio.  This  plan 
was  not  carried  further  because  of  the  great  cost  of  trans- 
planting these  people.  The  feeble  and  futile  efforts  of 
Spain  to  reclaim  and  colonize  the  vast  territory  are  shown 
in  remarkable  contrast  when  we  contemplate  that  it  was 
just  fourteen  years  from  the  time  that  Stephen  Austin 

15 


AUSTIN  IN  SAN  ANTONIO 

first  rode  into  San  Antonio  in  August,  1821,  until  he  lead 
the  patriot  army  of  1835  which  drove  the  Mexicans  out 
of  that  city.  Austin  and  his  American  colonists  did  far 
more  for  Texas  in  the  first  few  years  than  had  been  accom- 
plished by  Spain  and  the  Spaniards  during  more  than  three 
centuries.  Austin  remained  in  San  Antonio  from  August 
12th  to  the  21st,  in  conference  with  the  local  authorities. 

Martinez,  who  had  been  Governor  in  Decembe  when 
Moses  Austin  was  in  San  Antonio,  was  still  Governor  in 
August  when  Stephen  reached  there.  While  it  was  gener- 
ally recognized  that  Mexico  had  become  independent,  yet 
the  actual  transfer  of  authority  did  not  occur  until  Iturbede 
made  his  entrance  into  the  City  of  Mexico  in  September 
following. 


V. 
AUSTIN  IN  SAN  ANTONIO. 

While  in  San  Antonio  from  August  12th  to  21st,  1821, 
Austin  and  Governor  Martinez  reached  a  general  under- 
standing as  to  such  details  as  seemed  required  under  the 
original  grant  made  by  the  Spanish  authorities  at  Mon- 
terey in  the  preceding  January.  In  the  letter  of  acceptance 
which  Martinez  had  written  Moses  Austin  in  February, 
1821,  he  referred  to  the  fact  that  some  of  the  immigrants 
might  come  by  sea,  and  called  attention  to  a  port  which  the 
Spanish  Government  had  recently  opened  on  the  Bay  of 
San  Benardo,  and  he  advised  Austin  that  this  port  be  used 
as  a  place  of  entry.  While  Stephen  Austin  was  in  San 
Antonio,  Governor  Martinez  gave  him  a  formal  letter  under 


16 


AUSTIN  IN  SAN  ANTONIO 

date  of  August  14,  1821,  giving  him  meagre  instructions  as 
to  the  country  he  might  explore,  and  asking  that  when  he 
had  explored  it  and  decided  upon  his  exact  location,  that  he, 
Austin,  report  to  the  Governor.  In  this  letter  Martinez 
says: 

"You  can  proceed  to  the  River  Colorado  and  examine 
the  land  on  its  margins  which  may  be  suited  for  the  loca- 
tion of  your  Louisiana  families,  informing  me  of  the  place 
which  you  select  in  order  that  when  they  arrive  a  competent 
commissioner  may  be  sent  out  to  distribute  the  lands,  and 
inasmuch  as  they  may  come  by  sea,  they  must  be  landed 
in  the  Bay  of  San  Benardo,  where  a  port  has  been  opened 
by  the  Superior  Government." 

The  letter  continues,  giving  Austin  authority  to  take 
soundings  of  the  Colorado  River  to  its  mouth.  The  infer- 
ence is  that  this  port  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado, 
and  the  San  Benardo  Bay  referred  to  in  these  letters  must 
have  meant  Matagorda  Bay. 

Martinez  requested  Austin  to  furinsh  a  plan  for  the  dis- 
tribution of  land  to  the  new  settlers.  Austin  proposed  one 
which  would  give  the  head  of  each  family  and  each  single 
man  over  age  640  acres,  320  acres  in  addition  for  the  wife, 
should  there  be  one,  160  acres  in  addition  for  each  child, 
80  acres  in  addition  for  each  slave.  This  plan  was  presented 
in  writing,  and  Austin  received  authority  from  the  Gover- 
nor to  promise  that  guaranty  to  his  settlers.  This  plan 
was  afterwards  materially  changed  but  is  interesting  as  the 
first  plan  accepted  and  the  one  first  advertised  by  Austin  in 
the  United  States. 

There  is  much  that  is  interesting  and  romantic  when  one 
contemplates  Austin  as  he  left  San  Antonio  August  21,  1821, 
and  went  out  into  a  vast  and  to*  him  unknown  country  to 
seek  and  locate  his  empire.  The  facilities  for  travel  were 


17 


AUSTIN  EXPLORES  THE  GULF  LITTORAL 

so  meager,  the  guides  so  ignorant  and  the  trails  so  indis* 
tinct,  that  it  was  indeed  a  plunge  into  a  wilderness. 

If  one  will  take  the  map  of  Texas  and  study  for  a  mo- 
ment the  large  area  between  San  Antonio  and  the  coast 
and  thence  to  the  north  and  east  toward  the  Sabine,  he  will 
get  a  glimpse  of  the  great  land  which  lay  before  the  am- 
bitious young  adventurer  as  he  rode  out  of  Bexar  on  that 
August  day  one  hundred  years  ago.  It  is  the  great  Gulf 
hinterland  traversed  by  the  San  Antonio,  Guadaloupe,  Colo- 
rado, Brazos  and  various  rivers  which  flow  down  to  the 
sea  through  one  of  the  fairest  countries  in  all  of  the  world. 
Unlike  all  the  latter  colonial  grants,  there  were  no  fixed 
boundaries  to  the  first  one  and  Austin  was  left  with  few 
restrictions  to  select  his  own  territory  in  which  to  locate 
the  first  three  hundred.  The  nearest  definite  destination 
which  Austin  seems  to  have  had  when  he  left  San  Antonio 
was  the  mysterious  port  on  the  Bay,  San  Benardo. 


VI. 
AUSTIN  EXPLORES   THE  GULF  LITTORAL. 

The  Spanish  Governor,  Baron  de  Bastrop,  Don  Erasmus 
Seguin  and  other  local  dignitaries  bade  Austin  a  formal 
good  bye  with  many  protestations  of  Castillian  friendship 
as  he  left  San  Antonio  on  the  morning  of  August  21,  1821, 
following  the  road  to  Goliad. 

In  those  days  there  still  remained  a  fragment  of  the  La 
Bahia  mission  settlement  which  had  been  undertaken  in  the 
last  century.  An  indistinct  Spanish  trail  reached  from 
the  Gulf  through  La  Bahia  on  toward  Nachitoches,  Louisi- 

18 


AUSTIN  EXPLORES  THE  GULF  LITTORAL 

ana.  It  had  been  used  by  traders  and  smugglers  for  more 
than  one  hundred  years.  At  La  Bahia  Austin  divided  his 
company,  sending  all  surplus  horses  and  mules  on  to  Nachi- 
toches,  after  which  he  explored  the  coast  country.  He 
reached  the  head  waters  of  Matagorda  Bay  on  September  6, 
1821,  and  continued  skirting  the  coast  toward  the  Colorado. 
On  September  10,  he  passed  the  site  of  La  Salle  's  settlement, 
where  135  years  before  the  French  had  made  a  sad  effort  to 
locate  a  Colony.  There  is  indeed  an  interesting  picture, 
when  one  contemplates  the  young  American  standing  at  the 
ruins  of  the  old  fort  which  told  of  the  failure  of  the  bold 
and  brilliant  La  Salle.  It  was  a  wild,  desolate  spot  one 
hundred  years  ago,  and  the  nearest  human  habitation  was 
the  squalid  little  settlement  at  Goliad  which  he  had  passed 
a  week  before.  The  Frenchman's  dreams  were  to  discover 
and  claim  the  vast  realm  west  of  the  Mississippi  for  his 
King.  He  gave  his  young  life  in  this  hopeless  quest  and 
sleeps  in  an  unknown  grave  somewhere  in  South  Texas. 
Austin,  though  less  romantic  than  the  French  cavalier, 
had  hopes  as  high  and  ambitions  as  vast  as  those  which 
lured  La  Salle,  and  had  the  far  better  fortune  to  live  long 
enough  to  see  his  dreams  realized. 

After  passing  the  grave  of  the  French  enterprise,  Austin 
rode  on  to  the  Colorado  to  seek  the  port  of  entry  which  had 
been  so  warmly  pressed  upon  him  by  the  Spanish  Governor. 
He  reached  the  Colorado  on  September  15,  1821,  and  ex- 
plored it  down  to  the  Bay,  and  having  also  explored  the 
lower  Brazos  he  felt  that  he  had  found  his  land  of  promise 
and  hurried  back  to  Nachitoches  in  order  to  complete  ar- 
rangements for  leading  his  Colony  into  the  wilderness.  Few 
men  in  our  history  have  a  higher  claim  to  greatness  than 
Stephen  F.  Austin  both  from  the  standpoint  of  character 
and  merit  as  well  as  material  achievement. 


19 


AUSTIN'S  RETURN  TO  THE  STATES 

A  latter  day  writer  who  has  summed  up  his  career  and 
understood  his  hardships,  has  said  of  him,  ' '  He  carried  out 
his  father's  enterprise  with  a  patience  that  amounted  to 
genius  and  fortitude  which  was  the  equivalent  of  the  favor 
of  Heaven." 


VII. 
AUSTIN'S  RETURN  TO  THE  STATES. 

Austin  reached  Nachitoches  on  his  return  from  his  first 
trip  to  Texas,  October  3,  1821,  three  months  to  a  day  from 
the  time  that  he  and  Seguin  with  their  company  had  left 
that  place  for  Bexar.  He  felt  that  everything  was  per- 
manently arranged  for  his  advent  into  Texas  with  his  three 
hundred.  There  had  been  considerable  notoriety  given 
to  his  proposed  Colony  during  the  summer  of  1821; 
while  he  was  yet  in  Texas.  Louisiana  and  Mississippi  pa- 
pers widely  published  the  reports  which  he  gave  out  upon 
his  return  to  Louisiana  in  October,  and  the  spirit  of  adven- 
ture which  was  rife  in  those  days  turned  wide  atten- 
tion to  the  new  country,  which  during  the  farthest  recol- 
lection of  men  then  living  had  been  closed  to  all  the  world 
save  the  Spaniard  and  the  wild  Indian.  Fairy  stories  of 
the  great  land  west  of  the  Sabine  had  been  told  throughout 
the  States  for  many  years.  It  was  known  that  its  prairies 
teemed  with  millions  of  wild  horses.  It  was  known  that 
cattle  and  buffalo  abounded  there,  and  little  was  needed 
to  arouse  universal  interest  in  a  land  so  vast  that  no  man 
knew  its  boundaries. 

Moses  Austin's  plan  to  colonize  Texas  was  not  a  spas- 


20 


AUSTIN'S  RETURN  TO  THE  STATES 

modic  impulse.  It  is  known  that  he  had  cherished  such  an 
ambition  for  years,  though  what  fed  his  hopes  of  ever  get- 
ting Spanish  permission  is  difficult  to  say  at  this  remote 
date. 

After  the  Spanish  treaty  in  1819,  in  which  Florida  was 
ceded  to  the  United  States  and  that  country  had  recog- 
nized Spanish  sovereignty  in  Texas,  Moses  Austin  felt  that 
all  objection  to  American  colonization  should  be  removed 
and  he  planned  applying  to  the  Spanish  Government  at 
Madrid  for  this  permission.  He  was  told,  however,  he 
should  make  his  application  to  the  authorities  in  New  Spain, 
and  this  occasioned  his  first  journey  to  San  Antonio  in 
December,  1820.  Like  most  men  who  nourish  a  great  en- 
terprise, Moses  Austin  had  faith  in  its  success  and  faith 
in  himself.  He  began  to  plan  for  taking  his  Colony  into 
Texas  even  before  he  first  applied  himself  to  the  Spanish 
authorities  for  permission.  He  believed  his  application 
would  be  granted,  and  early  in  1820  he  had  sent  Stephen 
Austin  with  equipment  and  men  necessary  to  open  a  large 
plantation  on  Red  River  just  across  from  Texas  in  Arkansas 
at  a  place  called  Long's  Prairie.  He  planned  to  establish 
a  kind  of  gateway  here  through  which  immigrants  would 
pass  and  to  furnish  supplies  and  facilities  for  forwarding 
people  who  would  apply  for  entrance  into  Texas.  As  early 
as  June  in  1821,  there  were  families  in  Arkansas  and  Mis- 
souri waiting  the  word  from  Austin  to  move  into  Texas, 
and  in  that  month,  while  Stephen  Austin  was  yet  on  his 
way  to  Bexar,  several  families  left  Pecan  Point,  Arkansas, 
for  somewhere  in  Texas,  and  reached  the  Brazos  in  what  is 
now  Washington  County,  in  December,  1821.  Upon  Steph- 
en Austin's  return  to  Louisiana  in  October,  1821,  he  ad- 
dressed himself  with  his  usual  industry  to  organize  expedi- 
tions to  move  into  Texas  by  land  and  by  sea.  While  the 

21       ' 


THE  NEW  YEARS  CREEK  COLONY 

first  contingent  of  Arkansas  and  Missouri  immigrants  were 
coming  across  the  country  through  a  trackless  wild,  a  ves- 
sel with  people  and  supplies  was  sent  out  from  New  Or- 
leans in  November,  1821,  bound  for  the  Texas  Coast. 


VIII. 
THE  NEW  YEARS  CREEK  COLONY. 

While  the  first  overland  immigrants  were  plodding  their 
way  into  Texas  in  the  autumn  of  1821,  the  schooner  *  *  Live- 
ly,'7 which  Austin  had  fitted  out  in  New  Orleans,  made  its 
way  to  the  Texas  coast.  There  is  a  mystery  about  the 
ce Lively"  which  one  hundred  years  has  not  cleared  up,  but 
there  is  no  uncertainty  as  to  the  identity  of  the  little  ad- 
vance guard  which  reached  the  La  Bahia  crossing  on  the 
Brazos  late  in  December,  1821,  camped  on  what  they  called 
New  Years  Creek  in  what  is  now  Washington  County, 
January  1,  1822. 

Austin  had  left  New  Orleans  after  arranging  for  the 
voyage  of  the  "Lively,"  and  hurried  up  to  Nachitoches, 
from  whence  he  had  joined  these  overland  immigrants  and 
was  with  them  when  they  lighted  their  New  Year's  camp 
fires  in  the  wilderness  which  was  to  be  their  homes  and 
the  homes  of  their  children  for  the  centuries  to  come. 

When  Austin  and  his  wagon  train  halted  here  at  the 
La  Bahia  crossing,  they  found  two  American  families  who 
had  preceded  them  just  a  few  days.  These  first  arrivals 
were  Garrett  and  Higgins,  but  more  than  this  we  have 
no  detail  as  to  who  they  were  or  whence  they  came.  Many 
years  later,  Guy  M.  Bryan  (1852)  gave  the  name  of  Andy 

22 


THE  NEW  YEARS  CREEK  COLONY 

Robinson,  then  living  in  Brazoria  County,  as  the  first 
settler  in  Austin's  Colony  in  Washington  County.  The 
names  of  the  first  three  hundred  who  constituted  Austin's 
Colony  are  well  known  and  are  preserved  both  in  Austin's 
records  and  in  the  records  of  the  land  office.  If  there  are 
descendents  of  this  New  Years  Colony  yet  living  who  can 
from  family  tradition  give  any  detail  as  to  the  first  year 
of  this  Colony,  they  would  supply  information  much  needed 
in  Texas  history.  Such  descendents,  wherever  they 
are,  are  entitled  to  all  of  the  glory  that  comes  from  a 
splendid  heritage — as  much  entitled  to  that  distinction  as 
the  descendents  of  those  who  came  on  the  Mayflower. 

The  people  of  Texas  should  ever  feel  a  deep  interest  and 
perpetual  pride  in  the  memory  of  those  simple  pioneer 
folk  who  laid  the  cornerstone  of  the  commonwealth  on 
New  Years  Creek  one  hundred  years  ago.  Within. a  few 
weeks  James  B.  Austin,  Stephen's  brother,  and  Josiah  H. 
Bell  of  South  Carolina  joined  this  settlement.  In  after  years 
Bell  and  his  honored  family  became  well  known  in  Texas. 
He  located  his  headright  grant  of  two  leagues  of  land  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Brazos  River,  in  Brazoria  County,  and 
the  great  Columbia  oil  field  is  largely  on  his  grant.  Bell's 
landing  was  an  important  place  in  the  navigation  of  the 
Brazos  River  for  many  years.  Judge  James  H.  Bell,  son 
of  Josiah,  was  born  in  the  Colony  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Texas  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  be- 
tween the  States. 

As  soon  as  the  first  details  were  arranged  and  the  New 
Years  Creek  colonists  had  begun  hewing  their  houses,  the 
tireless  Austin  hurried  down  the  river  to  meet  those  who 
had  come  by  sea  on  the  ''Lively." 


23 


THE  SCHOONER  "LIVELY" 

IX. 
THE  SCHOONER  " LIVELY" 

The  first  expedition  of  Austin's  colonists  by  sea  left 
New  Orleans  on  the  ill-fated  schooner  "Lively." 

Joseph  Hawkins,  who  had  been  a  college  mate  with  Aus- 
tin and  who  was  a  prosperous  Southern  lawyer,  enthused 
over  Austin's  Texas  plans,  financed  this  expedition.  Aus- 
tin and  Hawkins  stood  on  the  dock  at  New  Orleans  and 
saw  the  little  boat,  freighted  with  its  immigrant  passengers 
and  a  miscellaneous  cargo,  sail  for  Texas  on  the  morning 
of  November  22,  1821.  The  next  day  Austin  left  New 
Orleans  by  boat  for  Nachitoches  to  join  the  overland  party 
with  which  he  came  on  to  the  Brazos. 

The  "Lively"  carried  seed  for  planting,  various  imple- 
ments of  husbandry  and  eighteen  immigrants,  several  of 
whom  had  been  with  Austin  on  his  journey  into  Texas  in 
the  preceding  summer.  The  boat  had  instructions  to  go 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Colorado  and  into  the  mythical  port 
of  entry  which  had  been  so  highly  recommended  by  Gover- 
nor Martinez  in  his  official  correspondence  with  the  Aus- 
tins. After  many  days  floundering  about  in  the  Gulf, 
the  vessel  unloaded  its  cargo  and  most  of  its  passengers  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Brazos  in  December,  1821,  some  days  be- 
fore the  New  Years  Creek  Colony  pitched  camp  150  miles 
up  the  river.  As  the  ( '  Lively ' '  came  through  Galveston  Bay, 
it  encountered  a  pirate  ship  which  ran  away,  and  saw  the 
ruins  of  a  schooner  which  had  been  scuttled  and  beached 
on  the  Island.  Piracy  on  the  high  seas  flourished  in  those 
days  and  had  been  a  rather  romantic  pastime  for  gentlemen 
of  adventure  since  the  Spanish  ships  had  first  begun  bring- 
ing home  Mexican  gold  three  hundred  years  before.  This 


24 


THE  SCHOONER  "LIVELY" 

manly  art,  however-,  was  in  its  last  stages,  and  the  exodus 
of  Lafitte  from  Galveston  Island  under  pressure  from  the 
United  States  Government  only  a  few  years  before  marked 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  robbery  on  these  seas. 

When  the  Captain  in  charge  of  the  "Lively"  unloaded  at 
the  Brazos,  he  went  further  west  to  find  the  Spanish  port 
in  the  Bay  of  San  Bernardo  and  to  await  the  coming  of 
Austin,  who  was  to  meet  the  vessel  there.  The  available 
data  leaves  much  doubt  as  to  the  course  and  career  of  the 
"Lively"  after  it  left  the  little  company  of  immigrants  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Brazos  and  spread  sail  for  the  west.  Some 
say  it  found  entrance  to  the  Colorado  River  and  reported  a 
fine  harbor.  Others  that  it  never  found  the  river.  Others 
say  that  it  returned  to  New  Orleans  and  brought  out  a 
second  cargo  early  the  next  year  and  was  wrecked  on  the 
end  of  Galveston  Island.  (This  is  the  most  likely  version.) 
There  are  others  who  say  that  the  Captain  sailed  away  with 
the  boat  to  some  Mexican  port  and  sold  it  and  spent  his 
thirty  pieces  of  silver  in  riotous  living.  And  there  was 
even  a  rumor  among  the  pioneer  folks  that  it  turned 
pirate  and  roved  up  and  down  the  Spanish  Main. 

The  immigrants  left  at  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos  River 
made  their  way  up  the  stream  on  foot  and  in  a  small  row 
boat,  and  after  weary  weeks  reached  a  place  where  the 
prairie  to  the  west  came  down  to  the  river's  edge,  and  lo- 
cated themselves  and  began  a  first  settlement  upon  the 
spot  which  is  now  the  town  of  Richmond  on  the  Brazos. 
Richmond  may  well  lay  claim  to  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  settlement  in  Austin's  Colony,  and  the  first  Anglo- 
American  town  in  Texas.  Before  they  left  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  they  were  joined  by  one  William  Morton  and 
members  of  his  family,  who  had  come  in  a  small  boat  from 
Mobile.  His  boat  had  been  wrecked,  and  he  and  those  with 


25 


THE  SCHOONER  "LIVELY" 

him  were  thrown  ashore  to  begin  life  with  the  ''Lively'7 
immigrants.  In  going  up  the  river  the  immigrants  were  on 
constant  lookout  for  Austin 's  overland  colonists,  whom  they 
expected  to  come  down  the  river.  William  Morton  re- 
mained at  the  site  of  this  first  settlement,  and  at  a  later 
date  located  his  headright  grant  of  two  leagues  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Brazos  River  across  from  Richmond.  The 
Southern  Pacific  bridge  across  the  river  spans  the  stream 
at  a  point  where  Morton's  leagues  touch  its  margin.  In 
the  meantime  Austin  left  his  New  Year's  Colony  and  went 
across  to  the  Colorado  and  down  the  river  to  meet  the 
1  'Lively"  at  the  "Spanish  port  in  the  Bay  of  San  Ber- 
nardo." He  remained  in  this  vicinity  for  nearly  three 
months  waiting  and  watching  for  the  ship  that  never  came. 
It  was  a  long,  tedious  wait  in  an  inclement  winter,  but 
this  tenacious,  patient  man  never  wearied  in  his  watch 
as  long  as  there  was  any  hope  that  the  vessel  would  come. 
The  cargo  that  it  carried  seemed  indispensable  to  his  first 
Colony  and  its  loss  seemed  insuperable.  After  these  weary 
weeks  of  waiting,  he  mourned  the  loss  of  his  entire  merchant 
marine  and  hastened  on  to  San  Antonio  to  report  progress 
to  Governor  Martinez.  He  went  up  the  Colorado  River  to 
where  the  Bahia  road  crossed  the  stream  and  there  met  a 
party  including  his  brother,  J.  E.  B.  Austin,  and  Josiah 
Bell  and  others,  and  they  proceeded  on  to  San  Antonio. 
He  had  been  almost  continuously  in  the  saddle  for  more 
than  a  year  and  the  trails  and  hardships  that  he  had  en- 
dured, including  the  loss  of  the  "Lively,"  were  indeed 
severe,  but  all  these  things  were  meager  when  compared  with 
the  trials  and  tribulations  that  awaited  him  in  the  immedi- 
ate years  to  come. 


26 


AUSTIN  GOES  TO  MEXICO 

X. 
AUSTIN  GOES  TO  MEXICO. 

Austin  reached  San  Antonio  the  second  time  on  the  22nd 
of  March,  1822,  and  reported  immediately  to  Governor  Mar- 
tinez. It  had  dawned  upon  the  Governor  in  the  interim 
since  Austin  went  away  in  the  preceding  August,  that  the 
change  of  sovereignty  in  Mexico  might  affect  his  authority, 
and  it  had  also  been  suggested  to  him  that  he  had  gone  too 
far  in  agreeing  with  Austin  upon  the  quantity  of  land  Aus- 
tin could  promise  his  settlers.  In  any  event  this  worthy 
Spanish  gentleman  was  reticent  and  more  or  less  disturbed 
when  Austin  called  to  see  him,  and  advised  Austin  that  he 
go  to  the  City  of  Mexico  forthwith  and  take  up  the  further 
details  with  the  new  Mexican  Government.  Iturbede  had 
been  acknowledged  as  the  executive  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment since  he  entered  the  City  of  Mexico  in  the  preceding 
September,  and  had  called  a  Congress  which  was  about  to 
meet,  and  it  was  to  this  new  authority  that  Austin  was  di- 
rected to  apply  himself.  He  did  not  speak  the  Spanish 
language.  He  had  not  come  prepared  for  such  a  journey, 
his  presence  seemed  indispensible  to  his  colonists,  but  with 
his  characteristic  promptness,  he  left  immediately  for  the 
City  of  Mexico,  leaving  Josiah  H.  Bell  in  charge  during  his 
absence. 

A  journey  from  San  Antonio  to  the  City  of  Mexico  in 
those  days  was  one  of  hardship  and  peril.  It  was  a  dis- 
tance of  1200  miles  through  a  wild  country  infested  with 
Indians  and  brigands  of  all  kinds.  He  rode  out  of  San 
Antonio  accompanied  by  Doctor  Andrews,  who  went  with 
him  a  portion  of  the  way.  On  the  second  day  out  they  were 
surrounded  by  Comanche  Indians,  but  Austin  knew  enough 

27 


AUSTIN  GOES  TO  MEXICO 

of  the  Indian  language  to  make  his  peace  with  them.  They 
got  away,  however,  with  some  of  his  chattel  effects,  among 
them  a  Spanish  grammar  that  he  carried  on  his  saddle  so 
that  he  could  study  the  Spanish  language  as  he  went  along. 
Just  what  the  Comanches  wanted  with  this  Spanish  gram- 
mar is  not  clear,  but  at  any  rate  it  was  found  in  the  pos- 
session of  a  roving  band  of  Indians  north  of  the  Red  River 
several  months  later.  Austin 's  name  and  address  were  writ- 
ten in  it,  and  the  rumor  got  back  to  his  home  in  Missouri 
and  to  his  relatives  there  that  he  had  been  murdered  by  the 
Comanches. 

After  crossing  the  Rio  Grande,  he  was  advised  it  was 
not  safe  to  proceed  without  an  armed  guard,  but  he  and 
his  companion,  Christie,  left  Monterey  on  foot  disguised  as 
beggars.  They  improvised  a  story  that  they  were  poor  pa- 
triots who  had  served  in  the  revolution  that  had  lately  suc- 
ceeded, and  that  they  were  making  a  pilgrimage  to  the 
Capital  to  ask  the  new  Government  to  remunerate  them  for 
their  services.  On  the  29th  of  April,  1822,  after  thirty-six 
days  spent  on  the  way,  Austin  the  first  time  saw  the  City  of 
Mexico.  He  found  the  capitol  in  a  turbulent,  noisy  mood, 
for  Iturbede  was  concluding  his  arrangements  to  assume 
the  title  of  Emperor. 

The  plan  of  Iguala  under  which  Iturbede  had  operated 
since  the  preceding  February,  tendered  the  Mexican  throne 
to  Ferdinand  VII,  then  the  Bourbon  King  of  Spain,  con- 
ditioned, however,  that  he  would  remove  to  Mexico  and 
bind  himself  to  support  a  constitution  to  be  promulgated 
by  the  Mexican  people.  Ferdinand  declined  the  honor  un- 
der the  onerous  conditions  named,  and  it  occurred  to  Itur- 
bede that  it  would  not  be  well  to  let  the  proffered  crown  go 
by  default,  so  he  contrived  with  much  shrewdness  to  have 
himself  proclaimed  Emperor.  Austin  was  present  in  the 


28 


THE  EMPEROR  ITURBEDE 

city  and  saw  this  done  on  the  18th  day  of  May,  1822,  when 
Iturbede  annexed  the  euphonious  title  of  Constitutional 
Emperor  of  the  Mexican  Nation  and  Grand  Master  of  the 
Imperial  Order  of  Guadaloupe. 

The  first  Mexican  Congress  had  assembled  at  the  call  of 
Iturbede  in  the  previous  February,  and  was  in  session  when 
these  things  occurred,  and  though  the  Congress  was  sum- 
moned by  him  and  supposed  to  be  composed  largely  of  his 
creatures,  it  did  not  approve  of  his  imperial  designs,  and 
immediately  after  he  assumed  or  usurped  this  high  author- 
ity, there  began  a  many  cornered  fight  between  the  Em- 
peror and  the  Congress  and  various  other  factions  which  has 
proceeded  with  remarkable  regularity  even  unto  this  day. 

In  the  midst  of  these  scenes  of  national  chaos,  Austin, 
a  perfect  stranger  in  a  wild,  weary  land,  without  money  and 
without  friends,  and  bereft  of  his  Spanish  grammar,  en- 
tered the  City  of  Mexico  seeking  the  proper  authority  to 
confirm  his  grant. 

And  back  on  the  Brazos  fifteen  hundred  miles  away,  the 
advance  guard  of  the  old  three  hundred,  as  his  first  colonists 
were  called,  fought  hardships  unspeakable  as  they  waited 
his  return. 

The  season  was  unfavorable  and  the  venison  lean  that 
year  in  the  Colony,  and  Austin's  persistent  patience  at  the 
Mexican  Capital  was  no  greater  than  that  of  his  people 
whom  he  had  left  behind. 


XI. 
THE  EMPEEOE  ITURBEDE. 

When  Austin  first  reached  Mexico  in  the  last  days  of 
April,  1822,  the  first  Mexican  Congress  was  in  session,  and 

29 


THE  EMPEROR  ITURBEDE 

the  supreme  authority  was  supposed  to  be  vested  in  a  Junta 
or  committee  with  Iturbede  at  its  head.  Within  a  very 
few  days  after  his  arrival,  he  saw  the  Junta,  or  the  regency, 
as  it  has  sometimes  been  called,  converted  into  the  Empire. 
Iturbede,  who  had  himself  declared  Emperor  in  May,  1822, 
assumed  the  title  of  Augustin  I,  and  many  other  high 
sounding  titles.  The  Empire  over  which  he  figuratively 
ruled  was  the  third  in  territorial  extent  of  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth.  It  reached  from  Yucatan  in  the  tropics  to  the 
far  north  along  the  Pacific,  probably  to  Oregon,  and  its 
eastern  and  northern  borders  between  it  and  the  United 
States  included  with  Texas  nearly  seven  of  our  present 
western  States. 

The  first  Congress  continued  in  session  for  some  months 
after  the  Empire  was  proclaimed,  and  at  the  urgent  instance 
of  Austin  and  other  persons  from  the  United  States  who 
were  there  seeking  similar  concessions,  a  colonization  com- 
mittee was  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  framing  a  suitable 
colonization  law.  At  that  time  no  active  opposition  to  per- 
mitting colonization  in  Texas  seemed  to  have  manifested 
itself,  although  it  is  now  known  that  many  prominent 
Mexican  leaders  doubted  the  wisdom  of  this  plan  from  the 
beginning,  and  in  a  very  few  years  they  succeeded  in  bring- 
ing about  legislation  which  was  designed  to  stop  further 
immigration  from  the  north.  The  publication  in  the  papers 
of  the  United  States  of  Austin 's  first  concession  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1821,  caused  a  number  of  more  or  less  prominent  and 
adventurous  Americans  to  flock  to  the  City  of  Mexico  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  similar  concessions,  and  the  presence 
and  activity  of  these  persons  materially  embarrassed  Austin 
in  his  plans.  Austin  immediately  filed  a  memorial  with 
the  colonization  committee  giving  the  history  of  his  and  his 
father 's  activities,  and  pointing  out  that  he  had  gone  so  far 


30 


THE  EMPEROR  ITURBEDE 

as  to  bring  his  first  colonists  into  Texas,  and  urging  im- 
mediate ratification  of  the  grant  made  to  his  father  on 
January  17,  1821.  This  concession  would  probably  have 
been  promptly  ratified  but  for  the  presence  of  these  other 
persons  seeking  similar  concessions,  and  on  this  account  it 
was  thought  best  that  the  Congress  pass  a  colonization  law 
governing  all  such  grants,  and  in  the  usual  tedious,  tardy 
way  that  such  things  have  from  time  immemorial  been  han- 
dled in  all  countries,  the  matter  dragged  itself  along  through 
the  entire  summer.  There  were  many  committee  meetings 
and  proposed  drafts  and  redrafts  of  a  colonization  scheme. 
Austin  was  present  at  many  of  these  meetings,  and  had 
made  such  progress  in  learning  the  Spanish  language  dur- 
ing the  first  few  months,  despite  the  loss  of  his  Spanish 
grammar  en  route,  that  he  was  enabled  to  materially  assist 
the  committee  in  drafting  the  first  colonization  law.  In 
fact  there  is  a  pretty  fiction  that  during  this  time  he  made 
a  tentative  draft  of  a  constitution  of  the  Republic  of  Mex- 
ico which  was  used  as  a  model  in  the  formation  of  the  Mex- 
ican constitution  of  1824.  This  may,  or  may  not  be,  a  pure 
fiction,  but  it  is  well  known  that  he  assisted  in  forming 
the  first  colonization  law,  and  that  he  got  the  first  and  only 
national  colonization  grant. 

The  first  Mexican  Congress,  however,  was  a  very  un- 
stable institution.  It  seemed  to  sit  more  or  less  during  good 
behavior,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  Emperor,  and  though 
Austin  sought  to  hasten  his  matters,  haste  was  not  an  at- 
tribute of  the  first  Congress  and  especially  of  the  coloniza- 
tion committee  of  that  Congress.  His  first  efforts  were 
directed  toward  a  special  act  confirming  his  grant  for  the 
reasons  set  forth  in  his  memorial.  But  failing  in  this,  he 
succeeded  in  having  matters  so  advanced  that  the  commit- 
tee all  but  finished  a  colonization  law  in  October,  1S22. 


31 


THE  EMPEROR  ITURBEDE 

Austin's  frankness  and  persistent  patience  had  won  him 
not  only  the  respect  of  the  congressional  committee  but  the 
warm  friendship  of  some  of  the  more  substantial  Mexican 
leaders,  including  Hererra  and  Andres  Quintana.  The 
proposed  colonial  enactment  was  completed  all  but  the 
last  few  sections  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1922,  and  it 
was  promised  passage  through  Congress  within  a  few  days. 
Austin  now  saw  what  he  deemed  the  end  of  his  labors  in 
Mexico,  and  after  six  months  of  weary  waiting,  expected 
to  take  his  way  homeward  within  a  week.  But  the  storm 
which  had  been  brewing  between  the  Emperor  and  the  first 
Congress  burst  in  all  its  fury  in  the  latter  days  of  October, 
and  on  the  last  day  of  the  month,  an  officer  from  the  Em- 
peror's Army  entered  the  Congressional  Chamber  and 
read  a  message  from  his  Imperial  Highness,  Augustin  I, 
dissolving  the  first  Congress  sine  die  and  giving  the  members 
thereof  ten  minutes,  Mexican  time,  in  which  to  disperse. 
And  within  this  incredulously  short  time  it  did  disperse. 
In  parliamentary  language,  his  decree  of  dismissal  or  dis- 
persal had  the  emergency  clause  attached.  This  incident 
is  without  parallel  in  Mexican  history.  The  only  thing  the 
Mexican  people  have  ever  since  been  known  to  do  in  ten 
minutes  was  to  start  a  revolution.  With  the  going  of  the 
Congress  went  the  colonial  committee,  and  went  also  the 
first  draft  of  the  proposed  national  colonization  law,  fin- 
ished all  but  the  last  three  articles. 

Poor  Austin  was  left  to  begin  all  over  again  and  doomed 
to  other  long  weary  months  of  work  and  waiting.  And 
back  on  the  Brazos  there  was  a  deep  malarial  gloom. 


32 


THE  END  OF  THE  EMPIRE 

XII. 
THE  END  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 

The  reign  of  Iturbede  was  short,  but  while  it  lasted  he 
was  an  Emperor  of  the  old  school.  He  dissolved  the  first 
Congress  on  the  last  day  of  October,  1822,  attaching  the 
emergency  clause  to  his  decree  of  dissolution  giving  the 
members  ten  minutes  to  vacate  and  with  positive  instruc- 
tions to  remain  vacated. 

The  American  colony  in  the  city  which  had  been  lobby- 
ing for  the  passage  of  a  colonization  law,  with  the  hope  of 
getting  colonization  contracts,  were  much  discouraged,  and 
some  of  them  left  the  city  and  abandoned  the  enterprise. 
When  the  Emperor  had  dissolved  the  Congress,  he  deter- 
mined that  Mexico  should  be  ruled  by  himself  with  the  as- 
sistance of  a  Junta,  the  members  of  which  he  would  ap- 
point, and  he  proceeded  to  name  this  committee  or  Junta, 
called  in  Mexican  literature,  the  Junta  Instituyente,  and 
this  high  sounding  institution,  composed  of  the  Emperor's 
select  men,  proceeded  to  administer  the  affairs  of  Mexico 
for  a  few  brief  weeks. 

Austin  made  naste  to  address  himself  to  the  Junta  Institu- 
yente, to  whom  he  presented  his  memorial  and  urged  his 
suit.  He  went  over  again  the  long  story  that  he  had  told 
the  congressional  committee.  The  Emperor's  Junta  In- 
stituyente was  less  unwieldy  than  the  Congress,  and  through 
the  influence  of  Herrera  and  Quintana  and  others  whose 
friendship  Austin  had  made,  his  petition  had  a  favorable 
hearing,  and  the  matter  proceeded  with  unusual  dispatch 
for  Mexican  affairs.  The  draft  which  had  been  all  but  com- 
pleted at  the  time  of  the  dissolution  of  the  ten  minute  Con- 
gress, was  resuscitated  and  the  last  three  articles  added, 

33 


THE  END  OF  THE  EMPIRE 

and  on  January  14,  1823,  almost  two  years  from  the  date 
his  father  had  received  the  first  grant  (January  17,  1821), 
Austin  received  a  favorable  report  from  the  committee 
recommending  the  historic  colonization  law  of  1823.  But 
the  committee  could  not  pass  the  law,  only  the  Emperor 
could  give  it  final  sanction,  and  it  went  to  his  Majesty  with 
a  favorable  recommendation. 

On  February  18,  1823,  Augustin,  by  divine  providence 
Emperor  of  Mexico,  etc.,  etc.,  formulated  his  decree  per- 
mitting the  law  to  become  effective  insofar  as  a  grant  to 
Austin  was  concerned  but  no  further.  In  view  of  the  special 
merit  and  the  equitable  reasons  that  surrounded  Austin's 
case,  his  grant  or  concession  was  ratified,  but  the  Emperor's 
decree  did  not  put  the  law  into  general  effect  or  permit 
other  colonial  grants. 

Now  at  last  it  seemed  that  Austin's  hopes  were  realized, 
and  again  he  was  ready  to  start  to  the  north,  but  before 
he  could  get  out  of  the  city,  the  fall  of  Iturbede's  Govern- 
ment was  manifest. 

Santa  Anna,  Bravo  and  others  had  begun  a  revolution 
against  the  Empire  which  was  thundering  away  in  many 
parts  of  Mexico.  On  the  19th  of  February,  the  very  next 
day  after  Austin  got  his  decree,  Herrera,  his  friend  and 
counselor,  and  who  stood  high  in  the  Emperor 's  Government, 
fled  from  the  city  in  the  night  and  joined  the  revolution. 
Before  Austin  could  get  away,  the  storm  broke  in  all  its 
fury  and  on  the  21st  of  February,  1823,  Augustin,  Emperor 
of  Mexico  and  Grand  Master  of  the  Imperial  Order  of 
Guadaloupe,  who  had  a  few  short  months  before  entered 
the  city  in  a  blaze  of  glory,  mounted  upon  a  black  charger, 
and  had  received  from  the  first  Alcalde  a  golden  key  upon 
a  silver  platter,  marched  out  the  Puebla  Road  never  to  re- 
turn. 


34 


AUSTIN'S  GRANT  CONFIRMED 

XIII. 
AUSTIN'S  GRANT  CONFIRMED. 

The  fall  of  the  Empire  left  Austin  in  much  uncertainty 
as  to  the  status  of  the  colonization  law  and  of  his  grant. 
The  Junta  Instituyente  had  passed  it  on  the  14th  of  Jan- 
uary and  the  Emperor  had  approved  it  in  so  far  as  Austin's 
concession  was  concerned  on  February  18,  but  no  man  knew 
what  the  status  of  any  of  the  legislative  or  executive  acts 
of  the  late  Government  would  be  upon  the  incoming  of  the 
new  regime.  There  was  nothing  that  Austin  could  do  but 
watch  and  wait.  Still  more  of  the  members  of  the  American 
colony  who  were  there  urging  their  claims  for  grants  be- 
came discouraged  and  went  away. 

In  March,  the  National  Congress  met,  the  same  which  on 
the  last  day  of  the  previous  October  had  been  dissolved  by 
the  Emperor  under  the  ten  minute  order.  One  of  the  first 
acts  of  the  new  session  was  to  nullify  everything  that  had 
been  done  during  the  enforced  recess  of  the  Congress.  A 
triumvirate  was  named  and  vested  with  supreme  power. 
Austin  lost  no  time  in  presenting  himself  again  to  the  new 
Congress.  He  had  now  become  almost  a  perpetual  petition- 
er. Governments  had  risen  and  fallen  so  rapidly  during 
his  stay  in  the  city  that  one  could  scarcely  keep  account  of 
the  swift  changes,  but  he  found  some  of  his  old  friends  in 
the  new  session,  with  whom  he  had  labored  on  the  colonial 
committee  at  the  previous  session.  In  course  of  time  the 
law  which  had  been  passed  by  the  Emperor 's  Junta  In- 
stituyente was  resurrected  and  the  new  congressional  com- 
mittee determined  to  approve  it  far  enough  to  authorize 
Austin 's  concession,  and  then  suspend  it  as  to  all  other  ap- 
plicants until  further  notice.  Both  Congress  and  the  new 

35 


AUSTIN'S  GRANT  CONFIRMED 

executive  triumvirate  approved  the  concession  to  Austin 
that  had  been  made  by  the  late  Emperor  in  the  preceding 
February,  their  approval  being  given  April  14,  1823.  The 
concession  to  Austin  thus  finally  approved  by  the  National 
Government  was  the  first,  last  and  only  national  grant  ever 
made  to  lands  in  Texas.  After  this  concession  was  approved 
it  was  the  policy  of  the  National  Government  to  place  upon 
the  Mexican  States  the  responsibility  of  colonial  legislation, 
and  under  the  system  subsequently  adopted  all  future 
grants  were  made  by  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  Coahuila 
and  Texas.  Thus  for  the  fourth  time  in  two  years  Austin 
had  seen  the  ever-changing  Governments  approve  his  con- 
cession, and  he  hurried  out  of  Mexico,  and  remembering 
the  fate  of  Lot's  wife,  did  not  dare  look  back  for  fear  that 
he  would  see  another  revolution  on  the  horizon,  and  indeed 
he  did  live  to  see  many  more,  though  his  career  was  brief. 
Many  strange  and  adventurous  characters  had  foregathered 
in  the  Mexican  Capital  in  those  days,  lured  by  the  hope  of 
getting  grants  similar  to  that  made  to  the  Austins. 

When  Stephen  first  reached  the  city  in  April,  1822,  he 
found  a  group  of  this  gentry,  some  of  whom  remained  dur- 
ing the  entire  time  that  he  was  there.  Among  them  were 
Haden  Edwards,  a  prodigal  Kentuckian  who  afterwards 
made  history  and  trouble  in  and  about  Nacogdoches ;  Green 
DeWitt,  who  in  later  years  founded  DeWitt  's  Colon}'  on  the 
Guadaloupe;  General  James  Wilkinson,  who  at  one  time 
had  been  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Armies  of  the  United 
States,  and  whose  name  has  always  been  more  or  less  mixed 
with  Aaron  Burr  in  his  supposed  conspiracy.  But  the  most 
pathetic  of  all  the  supplicants  who  gathered  there  was  a 
committee  of  Cherokee  Chiefs  who  came  from  East  Texas 
to  urge  their  claims  upon  the  new  Government,  and  to  beg 
a  home  for  their  wandering  people.  The  Cherokees  were 


36 


AUSTIN'S  GRANT  CONFIRMED 

a  relatively  docile  and  semi-civilized  people,  who  at  one 
time  had  occupied  a  vast  region  from  Virginia  to  Georgia, 
but  who  had  been  driven  west  of  the  Mississippi.  These 
poor  people  had  come  to  know  that  a  man  must  have  some 
kind  of  a  paper  title  in  order  to  hold  land,  and  they  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  if  they  could  get  a  grant  from  the 
Mexican  Government  that  they  might  hold  their  hunting 
grounds  in  the  land  where  they  had  located  north  of  the 
old  San  Antonio  Road  and  east  of  the  Trinity.  There  is 
yet  in  existence  a  pitiful  letter  written  by  Richard  Fields, 
Chief  of  the  Cherokees,  voicing  their  woes.  It  is  interesting, 
yet  pathetic,  when  we  reflect  that  it  comes  from  a  people 
lately  and  rightfully  Lords  of  the  continent.  It  is  so  unique 
that  this  generation  might  well  read  it,  the  last  wail  of  a 
now  vanished  race : 

"Feburey  the  fust  Day  1822  Apacation  mad  to  Sub- 
sprem  Governer  of  Provunce  of  Spain. 

"Dieor  Sur  I  wish  to  fall  at  your  feet  and  omblay  ask 
you  what  must  be  Dun  with  us  pur  Indians.  We  have  som 
Grants  that  was  give  us  when  we  live  under  the  Spanish 
Govt  and  we  wish  you  to  send  us  news  by  next  mal  whether 
tha  will  be  reberst  or  not  and  if  wer  committed  we  will 
com  as  soon  as  posble  to  persent  ourselves  befor  you  in  a 
manner  agreeable  to  our  talants,  etc. 


"  Richard  filds 
"A  Chaf  of  Charkee  Nation/' 


But  the  Chief  of  the  Cherokees,  Edwards,  DeWitt  and 
the  various  other  applicants  who  presented  their  claims  at 
Mexico  during  these  troubled  times,  were  made  to  await  the 
colonization  law  passed  the  next  year,  1824,  and  only 
Austin,  out  of  all  the  petitioners,  was  permitted  to  enter. 

37 


THE  TERMS  OF  THE  FIRST  GRANT 

XIV. 
THE  TERMS  OF  THE  FIRST  GRANT. 

A  study  of  the  first  Mexican  colonization  law  finally 
passed  by  Iturbede's  Junta  in  1823,  though  subsequently 
suspended,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  Texas 
history.  It  never  actually  became  operative,  but  it  formed 
the  groundwork  of  subsequent  legislation  covering  land 
grants  during  the  whole  colonial  period.  Many  of  the 
terms  and  expressions  found  in  the  act  of  1823  have  come 
down  to  us  as  household  words. 

Governor  Martinez  had  no  instructions -from  any  supe- 
rior authority  giving  detail  as  to  the  lands  Austin  could 
offer  his  colonists.  In  fact  this  subject  never  seemed  to 
have  been  considered  in  the  earlier  correspondence  or  at 
any  time  prior  to  Stephen  Austin 's  first  visit  to  San  Antonio 
in  August,  1821.  Martinez  at  that  time  asked  Austin  to 
outline  a  plan  for  distribution  of  land,  and  he  proposed 
for  each  single  man  or  head  of  a  family,  a  section  one  mile 
square,  or  640  acres,  and  320  acres  additional  for  the  wife, 
160  additional  for  each  child,  and  80  for  each  slave.  Mar- 
tinez acquiesced  in  this  proposal,  and  Austin  seems  to  have 
had  no  doubt  as  to  its  authenticity,  and  advertised  it  ex- 
tensively, and  this  was  the  bounty  which  the  first  colonists 
expected.  When  Martinez  reported  these  things  to  the 
Superior  Commandant  at  the  City  of  Mexico  the  question 
was  at  once  raised  as  to  his  authority  to  make  this  arrange- 
ment, and  the  Governor  urged  Austin  to  go  on  to  Mexico 
and  straighten  the  matter  out  when  the  latter  reached  San 
Antonio  the  second  time  in  March,  1822.  All  of  the  va- 
rious Governments  and  Departments  of  Governments  with 
whom  Austin  dealt  during  the  more  than  one  year  he  re- 

38 


THE  TERMS  OF  THE  FIRST  GRANT 

mained  in  the  City  of  Mexico  on  his  first  visit  declined 
to  ratify  Martinez's  agreement  as  to  the  quantity  of  land, 
though  they  were  all  willing  to  recognize  the  merits  of  Aus- . 
tin's  claim,  and  anxious  to  facilitate  him  in  carrying  out 
his  colonial  scheme.  This  promised  to  embarrass  Austin 
very  much,  as  his  word  had  gone  out  to  his  colonists,  and 
his  plan  had  been  widely  advertised  in  the  United  States. 
He  urged  and  explained  these  things  to  the  colonial  com- 
mittee of  the  first  Congress,  and  yet  it  was  obdurate  in 
refusing  to  accede  to  his  wishes.  The  colonial  committee 
named  the  labor,  which  was  a  survey  1,000  varas  square 
and  containing  177  acres,  as  the  unit  of  quantity.  This 
quantity  was  the  amount  to  be  assigned  to  each  person  who 
proposed  to  engage  in  agriculture.  It  was  explained  to  the 
committee  that  this  would  be  inadequate  for  those  who  pro- 
posed to  engage  in  stock  raising  as  well,  and  some  ingenious 
person  made  a  motion  that  the  act  be  so  drafted  as  to  permit 
a  larger  quantity  to  be  given  to  those  who  proposed  to  be- 
come herdsmen  and  engage  in  the  ancient  avocation  of 
stock  raising.  This  suggestion  found  favor,  and  the  act 
was  so  drawn  that  while  a  person  who  would  engage  in 
farming  alone  should  be  given  a  labor  and  no  more,  yet  if 
the  colonist  also  contemplated  stock  raising  he  should  have 
in  addition  to  his  labor  a  sitio  or  a  league  of  land,  as 
we  have  come  to  call  it.  It  may  be  remarked  in 
passing  that  Austin's  colonists  seem  to  have  been  stock 
raisers  and  took  the  league  along  with  the  labor. 
They  developed  a  wonderful  predilection  for  this  pastoral 
profession.  There  is  much  humor  in  this  situation.  Aus- 
tin urged  the  colonial  committee  to  ratify  a  plan  under 
which  he  had  offered  640  acres  of  land  to  each  head  of  fam- 
ily, and  a  possible  additional  quantity  of  several  hundred 
acres  which  in  no  event  could  amount  to  more  than  half  a 


39 


THE  TERMS  OF  THE  FIRST  GRANT 

league,  and  though  the  committee  stubbornly  refused  to 
authorize  such  an  arrangement,  it  nevertheless  provided  for 
a  plan  by  which  each  colonist  could  and  practically  all  of 
them  did  get  a  league  and  labor.  He  asked  for  a  sec- 
tion and  they  gave  him  a  league.  In  fact  the  act  was  so 
drawn  that  if  the  colonist  proposed  to  raise  much  stock,  he 
could  have  more  than  a  league,  and  in  many  instances 
two  leagues  and  even  larger  grants  were  made.  The  John 
Austin  survey,  upon  which  a  very  large  portion  of  the  City 
of  Houston  is  located,  is  a  two  league  grant,  and  William 
Morton,  whose  headright  lay  on  the  Brazos  opposite  the 
City  of  Richmond,  had  a  two  league  grant.  There  were 
many  such  in  the  Colony. 

There  were  many  other  interesting  provisions  in  the 
law  of  1823,  not  the  least  of  which  was  one  regulating 
slavery  which  provided,  "after  the  publication  of  this  law, 
there  can  be  no  sale  or  purchase  of  the  slaves  which  may 
be  introduced  into  the  Empire,  and  the  children  of  slaves 
born  in  the  Empire  shall  be  free  at  fourteen  years  of  age. ' ' 

This  act  of  1823  is  the  one  which  was  finished  all  but 
three  sections  on  the  last  day  of  October,  1822,  when  the 
Emperor  dissolved  Congress  under  his  emergency  order. 
It  was  completed  and  adopted  by  Iturbede's  Junta  in  Jan- 
uary, 1823,  and  sanctioned  by  him  in  February.  The 
Congress  which  assembled  on  the  fall  of  the  Empire  in 
March  thereafter  first  revoked  this  law  by  general  order, 
then  recognized  it  for  the  purpose  of  confirming  the  grant 
to  Austin,  then  suspended  it  after  ratifying  Austin's  con- 
cession under  it  with  the  notation,  "that  hereafter  said 
colonization  law  passed  by  the  Junta  Instituyente  shall  be 
suspended  until  a  new  resolution  on  the  subject. ' ' 

This  new  resolution  on  the  subject  was  a  national  coloni- 
zation law  passed  in  1824.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that 

40 


AUSTIN'S   GREAT   ACHIEVEMENT 

the  law  of  1823,  with  its  unusual  stormy  career  at  birth, 
all  but  passed  in  October,  adopted  in  January  following, 
ratified  by  the  Emperor  in  February,  set  aside  by  the  ten- 
minute  Congress  in  March,  reaffirmed  by  the  same  Congress 
in  April,  in  order  to  authorize  Austin's  grant,  suspended  by 
tKe  same  Congress  immediately  after  Austin's  concession 
was  adopted,  and  thereafterwards  postponed,  though  it 
never  became  a  law,  nevertheless  constituted  the  framework 
of  subsequent  Mexican  legislation,  and  its  provisions  had  a 
material  bearing  upon  all  of  the  Texas  colonies. 


XV. 
AUSTIN'S  GREAT  ACHIEVEMENT. 

One  cannot  follow  the  course  of  events  narrated  in  these 
articles  without  developing  the  greatest  admiration  for 
Austin  and  the  highest  respect  for  his  character  and 
genius. 

He  went  to  Mexico  in  April,  1822,  without  money,  with- 
out acquaintances,  unable  to  speak  the  language,  and  even 
robbed  of  his  Spanish  grammar,  and  at  a  turbulent  time 
when  no  man's  mind  was  normal.  He  found  the  city  full 
of  adventurers  using  influence  and  intrigue  to  get  colonial 
concessions  in  Texas.  Without  any  of  these  blandishments, 
he  alone  succeeded.  Every  department  of  every  Govern- 
ment which  he  approached  during  the  many  changes  of  the 
eventful  year  when  he  was  there,  heard  him  with  approval 
and  ultimately  granted  his  concession.  At  the  time  he 
reached  the  City  of  Mexico,  he  was  only  twenty-eight  years 
old.  He  had  left  school  at  seventeen,  and  when  scarcely 

41 


AUSTIN'S   GREAT   ACHIEVEMENT 

twenty-one  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature 
of  Missouri  Territory,  in  which  body  he  had  served  for  six 
years. 

In  1820  he  was  appointed  Federal  Judge  in  Arkansas, 
and  in  1821  was  about  to  engage  in  a  newspaper  venture  in 
New  Orleans,  when  called  to  take  up  his  father's  enter- 
prise. There  was  nothing  in  his  education  and  training 
which  fitted  him  for  the  unusual  mission  upon  which  he 
went  to  the  City  of  Mexico.  When  he  rode  north  in 
April,  1823,  with  his  grant  finally  approved,  he  was  not 
yet  thirty,  but  all  other  suitors  who  had  not  abandoned 
the  quest  remained  behind  to  await  later  legislation.  No 
greater  tribute  to  Austin's  genius  can  be  paid  than  by  the 
simple  recital  of  these  historical  facts.  Since  the  grant 
which  the  Government  made  to  him  alone  and  affected  his 
his  first  Colony  only,  arid  since  it  differed  materially  from 
those  of  later  date  made  both  to  him  and  other  Empres- 
arios,  it  is  of  peculiar  interest. 

Governor  Martinez,  in  August,  1821,  sent  Austin  away 
into  the  Gulf  Coast  country  with  a  wave  of  the  hand  to  find 
a  location  for  his  first  Colony  along  the  Colorado  River. 
There  was  much  discussion  between  Austin  and  the  au- 
thorities in  Mexico  while  he  was  there  in  1822-23  as  to 
what  should  be  the  boundaries  of  his  first  Colony.  It  was 
finally  settled  in  the  Emperor's  decree  of  the  18th  of  Feb- 
ruary, and  later  approved  by  the  Congress  as  follows : 

"With  respect  to  the  demarkation  of  limits  for  the  new 
establishment  described  by  Austin  in  his  memorial,  the 
council  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  need  not  be  granted  be- 
cause there  is  not  sufficient  data  to  ascertain  the  extent  of 
the  territory  and  because  the  Colony  will  be  composed  of  the 
land  granted  in  full  property  to  the  colonists." 

In  other  words,  the  lands  granted  to  the  individual  set- 


AUSTIN'S   GREAT   ACHIEVEMENT 

tiers  wherever  they  might  locate  would  constitute  the  ex- 
tent of  the  first  coionial  grant.  Three  hundred  and  seven 
separate  colonial  land  grants  were  made  under  this  decree, 
and  they  were  scattered  over  the  wide  area  now  known  as 
the  following  counties:  Fayette,  Burleson,  Austin, 
Washington,  Waller,  Grimes,  Harris,  Chambers,  Fort 
Bend,  Brazoria,  Matagorda,  Wharton,  Colorado  and 
Brazos.  The  outside  limits  of  this  territory  are  as 
wide  as  the  boundaries  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts, 
and  show  the  aversion  „  that  our  ancestors  had  against 
being  crowded.  The  only  limitation  imposed  was  a 
restriction  against  any  grant  within  the  " littoral  border" 
or  within  ten  leagues  of  the  Gulf  Coast.  None  of  the 
grants  of  the  first  Colony  were  within  this  zone.  It  was 
reserved  from  settlement  for  the  time  being  with  the  idea 
that  the  Government  should  control  the  coast  line.  This 
policy  was  relaxed  a  few  years  later,  and  Austin's  fourth 
Colony  covered  the  entire  Gulf  littoral  from  the  Lavaca  to 
the  San  Jacinto.  It  is  evident  now  when  looking  back  upon 
events  which  transpired  one  hundred  years  ago,  that  but 
for  two  things  there  would  have  been  no  colonial  grant 
prior  to  the  national  law  of  1824,  and  possibly  not  then. 
There  is  even  a  possibility  that  there  would  have  been  no 
national  law  authorizing  colonization  but  for  the  influences 
which  brought  about  the  first  concession.  These  two  things 
were:  First,  the  character  and  personality  of  Austin  and 
the  great  impression  he  made  upon  all  the  official  bodies 
with  which  he  came  in  contact  during  his  year 's  stay  in  the 
Capital. 

Second,  there  was  a  spirit  of  fairness  involved  which  these 
Governments  were  willing  to  recognize.  The  Spanish 
sovereignty  had  made  a  concession  to  Austin  and  his  fa- 
ther which  he  spent  a  year  in  fulfilling.  It  was  far 


43 


AUSTIN'S  GREAT  ACHIEVEMENT 

performed  on  his  part  and  his  reputation  and  fortune  were 
wrecked  if  it  were  not  carried  out.  The  Mexican  officials 
manifested  a  spirit  of  fairness  and  equity  toward  Austin 
in  these  matters  which  is  indeed  commendable.  The  other 
would-be  Empresarios  who  haunted  the  ante-chambers 
of  these  Mexican  Governments  did  not  inspire  so  much 
confidence,  nor  did  they  have  any  claims  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment as  Austin  did.  There  was  even  in  those  days  a 
current  of  grave  suspicion  among  many  Mexican  leaders 
against  the  wisdom  of  allowing  colonists  from  the  United 
States  to  settle  in  Texas,  and  looking  back  upon  the  situ- 
ation now  one  is  lead  to  wonder  at  the  great  stupidity  of 
the  Mexican  Governments  in  ever  permitting  this  move- 
ment. In  less  than  six  years  from  this  very  time 
Mexican  leaders  boldly  spoke  out  against  it  and  would 
have  undone  all  that  had  been  done,  if  it  were  possible. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  ever-recurrent  revolutions  which 
followed  each  other  in  Mexico  during  these  years,  it  is 
more  than  likely  that  the  first  Colony  would  have  been 
wiped  out  long  before  it  reached  a  point  where  it  could 
maintain  itself. 

It  was  manifest  to  those  Mexican  leaders  who  gave  the 
subject  much  thought  that  these  American  colonists  could 
never  become  Mexicans,  either  in  sentiment,  politics  or  re- 
ligion, and  these  thoughts  may  well  have  turned  the  scale 
against  colonization  entirely  but  for  the  great  interest 
and  confidence  that  Austin  inspired  and  the  masterful  way 
in  which  he  urged  the  justice  of  a  ratification  of  his  first 
concession.  His  name  and  influence  and  character  gave 
a  coloring  as  it  were  to  the  whole  colonial  scheme,  and  in 
the  wake  of  his  coming  the  other  Empresarios  crept  in. 
And  now,  after  the  lapse  of  one  hundred  years,  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  hand  of  Stephen  F.  Austin,  raised 


44 


THE  FIRST  COLONISTS 

at  this  time  and  under  the  circumstances  here  detailed,  de- 
termined the  fate  of  all  the  country  north  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  that  Texas  and  the  Western  States  were  to  be 
Saxon  rather  than  Latin.  This  is  not  merely  fulsome 
praise.  It  is  rather  a  tardy  acknowledgment  of  the  real 
merit  and  great  work  of  this  remarkable  man. 

Surely  very  few  men  in  American  history  have  wrought 
so  much,  and  his  achievements  and  their  effect  upon  our 
history  class  him  as  a  national  figure — a  national  hero. 


XVI. 
THE  FIRST  COLONISTS. 

The  first  colonial  grant  to  Austin,  of  February  18,  1823, 
afterwards  confirmed  by  the  ten-minute  congress  on  April 
14,  1823,  directed  him  to  collaborate  with  the  Governor  of 
Texas  or  a  Commissioner  appointed  by  the  Governor,  to 
designate  and  divide  the  land  among  the  colonists.  Austin 
was  authorized  to  locate  a  town  at  a  place  central  to  the  col- 
onists, which  should  serve  as  the  Seat  of  Government  for 
the  Colony.  Above  all,  the  colonists  must  be  Roman  Cath- 
olics of  steady  habits.  This  was  supposed  to  be  indispensable. 
He  was  authorized  to  organize  the  colonists  into  a  militia, 
and  until  the  Government  was  further  organized,  he  was 
charged  with  the  administration  of  justice,  a  settlement  of 
all  differences  which  might  arise  among  the  inhabitants,  and 
the  preservation  of  good  order  and  tranquility.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  this  first  grant,  with  its  broad  powers 
conferred  upon  Austin,  was  made  before  the  Mexican  Con- 
stitution of  1824,  and  more  than  three  years  before  there 


45 


THE  FIRST  COLONISTS 

• 

was  a  Constitutional  State  Government  for  Coahuila  and 
Texas. 

Austin  stopped  at  Monterey  on  his  return,  for  a  confer- 
ence with  the  State  authorities,  and  was  designated  as  a 
Lieutenant  Colonel,  and  was  afterwards  known  as  Colonel 
Austin,  until  he  was  elected  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
colonial  forces  at  Gonzales,  in  1835,  after  which  he  was 
called  General  Austin. 

The  Governor  of  Coahuila  and  Texas,  Don  Luciano  Gar- 
cia, appointed  that  genial  soldier  of  fortune  the  Baron  de 
Bastrop  Commissioner  to  issue  the  titles  to  the  colonists, 
and  in  1823,  Austin  and  Bastrop  arrived  in  the  Colony. 
This  same  Don  Luciano  issued  a  letter  of  instructions  to 
Bastrop  on  July  23rd,  asking  him  to  locate  and  lay  out 
the  town  called  to  be  established  in  the  colonial  concession, 
and  named  San  Felipe  de  Austin. 

During  the  year  which  lapsed  since  the  first  colonists  ar- 
rived, and  while  Austin  was  in  Mexico,  some  progress  had 
been  made  toward  permanent  settlements.  Emigrants  had 
come  singly  and  in  companies,  by  land  and  by  sea,  and  had 
squatted  at  various  places,  from  LaGrange  to  the  mouth 
of  the  San  Jacinto.  There  is  a  poetic  interest  when  one 
reflects  upon  the  prospect  which  confronted  these  ances- 
tors of  ours,  as  they  wearily  wended  their  way  into  a  vast, 
strange,  virgin  land  and  selected  sites  for  their  homes, 
as  convenience,  or  fancy,  or  accident  suggested.  One 
family  would  be  attracted  by  a  beautiful  grove,  another  by 
a  charming  landscape.  All  of  them  kept  an  eye  singled  to 
fertile  lands  and  gravitated  to  the  alluvial  river  fronts. 
One  hardy  Tennesseean,  who  had  come  overland  nearly  a 
thousand  miles,  stopped  on  the  Brazos  early  in  1822,  and 
was  about  to  make  his  permanent  location.  After  a  few 
days,  he  heard  that  a  fellow  from  Alabama  had  located  five 


THE  FIRST  COLONISTS 

miles  below  him,  and  in  disgust  at  such  unseemly  crowd- 
ing, he  folded  his  tent  and  moved  across  to  the  Colorado. 

The  details  of  surveying  and  locating  the  lands  and  is- 
suing the  titles  called  for  a  vast  amount  of  work.  The 
names  of  Samuel  M.  Williams  and  Horatio  Chrisman  should 
ever  be  remembered  in  connection  with  the  location  of  the 
first  Colony.  Williams  came  from  Maryland,  in  1822,  and 
in  his  application  for  a  land  grant  it  is  recited  that  he 
spoke  both  the  Spanish  and  French  languages,  as  well  as 
the  English.  He  was  made  Secretary  of  Austin's  Colony 
and  labored  with  Austin  throughout  all  the  colonial  period. 
The  volumes  of  land  records  made  during  these  years  were 
all  in  Williams'  handwriting.  Chrisman  and  Ingram  and 
the  other  surveyors  who  made  the  first  locations  would  write 
their  field  notes  as  the  work  progressed,  in  English.  These 
field  notes  were  often  written  on  odd  scraps  of  paper.  But 
before  the  grant  could  issue,  the  field  notes  had  to  be  trans- 
lated into  Spanish  and  all  of  the  official  records,  including 
the  grants  themselves,  were  in  the  Spanish.  Williams, 
however,  preserved  the  original  field  notes,  and  they  have 
been  bound  into  a  volume,  which  has  been  kept  even  unto 
this  day. 

The  first  survey  in  the  Colony  is  said  to  have  been  the 
one  made  for  Josiah  H.  Bell,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Brazos, 
a  few  miles  below  the  La  Bahia  road.  This  work  was  done 
on  the  tenth  of  February,  1823,  by  Horatio  Chrisman.  In- 
gram's  first  survey  was  made  for  Sylvanus  Castleman,  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Colorado  above  LaGrange. 

The  first  year  in  the  Colony  was  a  very  hard  one,  and 
this  eight-cylindered  generation  can  never  know  the  hard- 
ships and  privations  which  these  people  suffered  during  the 
first  years.  Many  families  were  without  bread  until  the 
first  corn  crop  was  matured.  The  talented  Horatio  Chris- 


47 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  FIRST  COLONY 

man  wore  a  leather  hunting  jacket  all  summer  because  he 
had  no  shirt.  The  family  of  William  Morton  lived  largely 
on  lettuce  for  months.  But  the  mustang  ponies  were  fat 
and  more  easily  killed  than  deer  and  meat  was  reasonably 
abundant. 


XVII. 
THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  FIRST  COLONY. 

While  Austin  was  yet  in  Mexico  in  1822,  the  first  colonists 
having  settled  on  the  Colorado  and  Brazos  Rivers,  Governor 
Trespalacios,  who  had  succeeded  the  Spanish  Governor, 
Martinez,  took  authority  to  divide  the  new  Colony  into  two 
districts,  that  of  the  Colorado  and  of  the  Brazos,  and  named 
an  Alcalde  for  each  district.  This  was  the  first  political 
recognition  of  the  new  Colony,  and  James  Cummings,  Pro- 
visional Alcalde  of  Colorado,  appointed  by  Don  Felix  Tres- 
palacios, in  1822,  was  the  first  Anglo-American  civil  officer 
ever  named  in  Texas. 

When  Austin  and  Bastrop  returned  to  the  State  in 
1823,  a  letter  had  preceded  them  from  Saucedo  at  Bexar, 
advising  the  Alcaldes  of  the  appointment  of  Bastrop. 
The  letter  to  Alcalde  Cummings  is  printed  among  Aus- 
tin's papers  and  directs  him  to  assemble  his  people  at 
the  house  of  Sylvanus  Castleman,  on  the  Colorado,  to 
hear  instructions  regarding  the  grant  to  Austin  and 
Austin's  authority.  The  Alcalde  is  a  petty  Spanish  judi- 
cial officer.  The  office  is  one  of  great  antiquity  and  the 
Alcalde  is  supposed  to  be  as  indispensable  to  a  Spanish 
community  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  is  found  in  an  English 
neighborhood. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  FIRST  COLONY 

Austin  accepted  the  Alcalde  arrangements  made  for  him 
in  advance,  and  set  about  the  location  of  his  Capital  and 
the  promulgation  of  a  civil  and  criminal  code,  which  were 
published  in  1824.  These  codes,  entirely  written  by  him, 
remained  the  law  of  the  Colonies,  until  the  first  Ayunta- 
mientos  were  established  in  1828  and  Constitutional  Alcaldes 
chosen.  His  criminal  code  consisted  of  twenty-six  articles, 
and  is  dated  January  22,  1824.  The  five  first  articles  are 
devoted  to  the  proper  handling  of  Indians,  and  provide 
that  if  Indians  are  found  in  a  neighborhood  and  their  con- 
duct leads  to  the  suspicion  that  they  intend  to  steal,  they 
should  be  apprehended  and  taken  before  the  nearest  Al- 
calde, who  is  given  power  to  punish  them  if  he  deems  it 
necessary.  Article  five  concludes  the  treatise  on  Indians, 
in  this  unique  language : 

"No  person  in  the  colony  shall  ill  treat  or  abuse  any 
Indian  without  just  cause,  under  a  penalty  of  one  hundred 
dollars,  but  shall  treat  them  at  all  times  in  a  friendly 
manner,  so  long  as  they  deserve  it." 

After  thus  disposing  of  the  Indian  question,  the  law-giver 
proceeds  in  article  six  to  fix  the  status  of  other  criminals, 
making  it  the  duty  of  all  persons  to  apprehend  them  be- 
fore an  Alcalde.  If  the  criminal  makes  a  resistance,  it  is 
lawful  to  kill  him.  Gambling  of  every  description  is  pro- 
hibited under  a  heavy  fine,  but  horse  racing,  "being  cal- 
culated to  improve  the  breed  of  horses, ' '  is  not  classified  as 
gambling. 

In  article  nine  he  made  it  a  high  misdemeanor  for  a 
man  and  woman  to  live  together  without  being  married, 
but  suspended  this  section  until  sixt}7  days  after  the  arri- 
val of  the  first  priest,  who  was  expected  to  take  up  his 
residence  in  the  Colony  in  due  time. 

Five  sections  of  the  penal  code  were  devoted  to  offences 

49 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  FIRST  COLONY 

concerning  slaves  and  slavery  and  by  slaves,  and  it  was 
made  a  heavy  offence  to  steal  a  slave.  The  code  named  the 
crimes  of  theft,  assault,  slander,  counterfeiting,  and  pro- 
vided for  a  jury  trial  in  the  Alcalde's  Court.  All  fines  col- 
lected were  to  go  to  the  benefit  of  a  school  fund  and  other 
public  purposes. 

This  miniature  code,  promulgated  by  Austin  in  Jan- 
uary, 1824,  was  the  law  of  the  land  for  more  than  four 
years,  and  is  interesting  as  the  first  English  code  ever 
written  in  Texas. 

In  his  civil  code,  Austin  provided  for  a  constable  in 
each  district,  to  serve  the  process  of  the  Alcaldes.  Here 
was  a  rare  blending  of  the  English  and  Latin  forms  of 
jurisprudence.  Think  of  an  English  Constable  serving 
the  process  of  a  Spanish  Alcalde.  The  civil  code  provides 
for  the  form  of  the  Alcalde's  docket,  and  there  are  yet 
in  existence  a  number  of  these  old  dockets,  which  bear  some 
very  interesting  recitals.  I  have  examined  the  old  Al- 
calde registers  of  Brazoria,  which  bear  the  names  of  the 
attorneys  who  practiced  in  those  remote  days,  and  fre- 
quently among  them  appear  such  names  as  John  A.  Whar- 
ton,  R.  J.  Townes,  Elisha  M.  Pease,  and  others  afterwards 
well  known  in  the  early  history  of  Texas. 

The  twenty-third  section  of  the  civil  code  provides  that 
in  case  no  property  of  a  debtor  can  be  found  by  the  Con- 
stable, that  his  body  should  be  seized  and  the  Alcalde 
should  examine  into  his  circumstances,  and  in  case  it  should 
be  found  that  he  had  fraudulently  conveyed  away  or  con- 
cealed his  property,  then  the  Alcalde  may  hire  out  the  de- 
fendant to  the  highest  bidder,  until  his  wages  pay  the  debt. 

During  these  four  years,  Austin's  life  was  an  extremely 
busy  one.  In  a  sketch  recently  written  by  Eugene  Barker, 
the  following  glimpse  is  given  of  his  unusual  activities: 

50 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  FIRST  COLONY 

"It  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate  Austin's  labors  in 
the  early  years  of  the  Colony.  A  letter  to  the  political 
chief,  in  1826,  gives  a  clue  to  their  character  and  variety. 
He  had  left  San  Felipe  on  April  fourth,  to  point  out  some 
land  recently  conceded  to  one  of  the  State  officials,  and 
had  been  detained  by  excessive  rains  and  swollen  streams, 
until  the  twenty-ninth.  On  May  first,  he  began  the  trial 
of  an  important  case,  that  lasted  seven  days.  At  the  same 
time,  he  had  to  entertain  a  delegation  of  Tonkaway  In- 
dians and  make  preparations  for  a  campaign  against  another 
tribe;  to  talk  to  and  answer  questions  of  many  foreigners 
who  had  come  to  look  at  the  country,  explaining  and  trans- 
lating the  Federal  Constitution  and  laws  for  them;  to  re- 
ceive and  pass  upon  applications  for  land,  hear  reports  and 
issue  instructions  to  surveyors;  and  to  correspond  with 
superior  civil  and  military  officers  at  San  Antonio  and 
Monterey.  Much  of  his  time  was  consumed  in  settling 
neighborhood  disputes  about  cows  and  calves.  During 
these  years,  he  gathered,  by  painstaking  surveys  and  per- 
sonal observation,  data  for  a  map  of  Texas,  published  by 
Tanner,  in  1829,  charted  Galveston  Bay  and  the  harbors 
and  navigable  rivers  of  the  State,  promoted  trade  with 
the  United  States,  and  kept  a  stream  of  immigrants  flowing 
into  the  Colony;  encouraged  the  erection  of  gins  and  saw 
mills  and  the  establishment  of  schools;  exercised  through- 
out a  most  remarkable  influence  over  the  legislature  at 
Saltillo,  in  matters  affecting  the  interests  of  the  colonists. ' ' 

In  addition  to  the  affairs  of  his  own  Colony,  he  was 
called  upon  in  every  critical  situation  that  arose  in  the 
other  Colonies,  and  especially  De  Witt's  and  Edwards' 
Colonies.  His  high  standing  with  the  Mexican  officials  and 
the  great  deference  they  paid  to  him  gave  him  an  influence 
that  was  sought,  not  only  by  his  own  colonists,  but  all  other 

51 


EMPRESARIO  GRANTS 

Empresarios.  He  established  the  Seat  of  Government  for 
his  Colony  at  a  site  located  on  the  Brazos  River,  now  in 
Austin  County.  A  tentative  location  was  first  made  on  the 
Colorado,  but  this  was  •  abandoned  for  San  Felipe, 
and  a  five-league  grant  of  land  was  made  by  the  Mexican 
Government,  on  which  to  locate  the  town.  San  Felipe  re- 
mained the  Seat  of  Government  until  the  advance  of  Santa 
Anna 's  army  in  1836. 

XVIII. 
EMPRESARIO  GRANTS. 

Austin's  first  grant  was  finally  approved  on  the  four- 
teenth day  of  April,  1823,  but  the  same  Act  which  ap- 
proved it  provided  that  no  other  grant  should  be  made  until 
the  passage  of  a  State  Colonization  Law  for  Coahuila  and 
Texas,  and  that  all  subsequent  grants  should  emanate  from 
the  State  Government.  The  other  Empresarios  (or  con- 
tractors) were  therefore  compelled  to  await  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  State  Government.  These  would-be  Empresarios 
who  foregathered  at  Mexico  in  1821  migrated  to  Saltillo, 
the  little  Capital  of  Coahuila,  and  in  March,  1825,  when 
the  first  State  statute  was  passed  authorizing  such  grants, 
there  was  no  dearth  of  applicants  at  Saltillo.  On  the  fif- 
teenth day  of  April,  1825,  the  first  State  grants  were  made. 
On  that  day,  Green  De  Witt  received  the  contract  to  locate 
four  hundred  families  between  the  Guadaloupe  and  the 
Lavaca;  Robert  Lef twitch,  four  hundred  families  north  of 
the  San  Antonio  Road  and  between  the  Brazos  and  the  Col- 
orado ;  Frost  Thorne,  four  hundred  families  in  East  Texas ; 
and  on  the  eighteenth,  Hayden  Edwards,  who  had  been 
waiting  and  watching  four  years  for  such  a  concession,  had 

52 


EMPRESARIO  GRANTS 

permission  to  locate  four  hundred  families  in  East  Texas, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Nacogdoches.  On  the  twenty-sev- 
enth of  the  same  month,  Austin  received  a  concession  for 
his  second  Colony,  which  gave  him  permission  to  locate 
three  hundred  families,  within  the  bounds  already  occupied 
by  his  scattered  first  colonists. 

Many  other  grants  were  made  during  this  and  succeed- 
ing years,  so  that  between  1825,  when  the  Land  Office  was 
opened  at  Saltillo,  and  1835,  when  it  was  closed  by  the 
Revolution,  there  had  been  thirty  two  grants,  covering  al- 
most the  entire  territory  now  embraced  by  the  State  of 
Texas.  The  great  majority  of  them  were  never  fulfilled.  Aus- 
tin afterwards  received  two  other  colonial  grants,  his  third 
Colony  covering  the  territory  between  the  Brazos  and  the 
San  Jacinto.  During  the  first  few  years,  no  grants  were 
made  within  the  Gulf  littoral,  which  included  a  strip  ten 
leagues  in  width,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande  to  the 
Sabine.  When  Austin  came  to  locate  his  fourth  Colony, 
however,  he  got  permission  to  locate  it  entirely  within  this 
Gul£  littoral  and  it  extended  from  the  mouth  of  the  Lavaca 
to  the  mouth  of  the  San  Jacinto.  Of  all  the  other  Empre- 
sario  grants  that  were  made  during  these  years,  only  those 
to  Austin  were  entirely  fulfilled.  De  Witt's  was  probably 
more  nearly  fulfilled  than  any  of  the  others. 

Martin  DeLeon,  a  Mexican,  procured  permission  in  1825 
to  locate  a  Colony,  and  did  locate  it,  founding  the  City  of 
Victoria,  which  was  settled  at  first  by  Mexican  colonists. 

McMullen  and  McGloynes  procured  a  grant,  between  the 
Nueces  and  San  Antonio  Rivers,  south  of  the  San  Antonio 
Road,  and  located  an  Irish  Colony  there.  Some  of  these 
grants  were  early  forfeited  and  re-locations  made.  Many 
of  them  were  made  the  basis  of  wild  land  speculation  in  the 
United  States. 


53 


THE  HAYDEN  EDWARDS  GRANT 

Three  large  contiguous  grants,  covering  practically  all 
of  Southeast  Texas  east  of  the  San  Jacinto  River,  were 
made  to  Burnet,  Vehlein  and  DeZavala.  The  land  cov- 
ered by  these  grants  extended  from  Galveston  Bay  along 
the  Sabine  River  to  the  Nacogdoches  Road,  and  Burnet 's 
grant  lay  north  of  that  road.  The  three  grants  embraced 
1000  leagues,  a  territory  almost  as  vast  as  one  of  the 
Southern  States.  These  gentlemen  conveyed  their  holdings 
to  trustees,  among  whom  were  William  H.  Sumner,  of 
Boston,  United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts;  and  a 
Company  was  formed,  known  as  the  Galveston  Bay  and 
Texas  Land  Company,  which  took  the  title  of  the  Em- 
presarios  to  the  property,  and  stock  was  issued  and  offered 
for  sale.  They  procured  the  opinion  of  no  less  an  authority 
than  Chancellor  Kent  as  to  the  validity  of  these  grants,  and 
their  plan  of  operation,  and  started  on  a  scheme  of  rather 
wild  land  speculation.  Austin  protested  very  bitterly 
against  these  things.  It  created  a  bad  impression  in  Mexico. 
He  had  started  out  to  bring  in  bona  fide  colonists,  people 
who  would  settle  and  develop  the  country.  This  land  specu- 
lation, which  began  as  early  as  1826,  is  often  given  as  one 
of  the  causes  of  the  Revolution. 


XIX. 
THE  HAYDEN  EDWARDS  GRANT. 

Edwards  was  in  Mexico,  seeking  a  grant,  when  Austin 
went  there  in  1821.  Yoakum  says  of  him  that  he  kept 
open  house  and  entertained  very  lavishly.  It  appears  from 
Austin's  correspondence  some  years  later  that  Edwards 

54 


THE  HAYDEN  EDWARDS  GRANT 

operated  a  roulette  wheel  in  this  open  house,  which  prob- 
ably increased  the  lavishness  of  his  entertainments.  Ed- 
wards was  an  impetuous,  quick  tempered  person,  the  very 
kind  of  a  man  that  would  not  be  calculated  to  get  along  well 
with  Spaniards  or  Mexicans.  He  made  his  headquarters 
at  Nacogdoches,  where  he  found  a  very  small  settlement  at 
the  time  of  his  coming.  Nacogdoches  had  been  a  sub- 
stantial settlement  years  before,  but  had  been  destroyed 
in  1818,  and  when  Austin  came  there  in  1821,  the  town  did 
not  contain  but  half  a  dozen  houses  and  thirty  or  forty 
inhabitants.  The  news  of  the  opening  of  Texas  to  Amer- 
ican emigrants,  however,  caused  a  great  influx  of  people 
into  all  East  Texas,  and  Nacogdoches  soon  became  a  rela- 
tively important  place. 

During  1825  and  1826,  there  was  a  gathering  of  renegade 
Mexicans  in  East  Texas  and  about  Nacogdoches — refugees 
who  had  left  Mexico  for  its  good — and  the  same  class  of 
gentry  from  the  States  soon  foregathered  there  and  formed 
a  congenial  society  for  evil.  Edwards  and  his  emigrants 
soon  came  into  conflict  with  this  element,  and  as  is  usually 
the  case,  there  was  a  harmony  between  the  bad  elements, 
both  American  and  Mexican,  which  came  into  direct  an- 
tagonism with  Edwards  and  his  well-meaning  colonists. 
Nacogdoches  was  the  only  place  in  Texas,  except  San  An- 
tonio, where  there  was  any  Mexican  population  worth  men- 
tioning, and  of  course  the  only  place  where  there  could  be 
any  friction  between  the  inhabitants  and  the  newcomers. 
That  such  friction  was  inevitable  must  have  been  ap- 
parent to  everyone,  and  that  it  manifested  itself  at  the  very 
beginning  is  but  natural. 

A  Mexican  rogue  named  Sepulveda,  more  or  less  skilled 
in  forgeries  in  general  and  in  land  forgeries  in  particular, 
and  an  American  rogue  named  Norris,  skilled  in  many 

• 

55 


THE  HAYDEN  EDWARDS  GRANT 

forms  of  villainy,  conspired  together  so  that  Norris  was 
chosen  Alcalde  of  the  new  settlement. 

Edwards,  with  a  frankness,  and  in  good  English,  informed 
Governor  Blanco  at  San  Antonio  of  the  deeds  and  mis- 
deeds of  Sepuleveda  and  his  gang.  Governor  Blanco  thought 
a  bad  Mexican  was  much  better  than  a  good  American, 
and  on  this  score  sided  with  the  renegades  and  cancelled 
Edwards'  Empresario  grant  and  expelled  him  from  the 
Colony.  Colonists  were  coming  in  in  great  numbers  to  lo- 
cate under  Edwards'  concession  and  he  had  spent  almost 
a  fortune  in  the  enterprise,  and  this  turn  of  affairs  meant 
his  ruin.  He  and  his  brother,  Benjamin,  determined  to  defy 
Blanco 's  authority,  and  on  December  16,  1826,  Benjamin 
Edwards  rode  into  Nacogdoches  and  declared  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Republic  of  Fredonia,  and  unfurled  its  flag, 
in  the  grim  wake  of  a  Texas  norther,  which  howled  in  the 
East  Texas  pines  that  night. 

In  desperation  for  an  ally  in  this  emergency,  the  Ed- 
wards turned  to  the  Cherokee  Indians,  who  dwelt  in  the 
woods  north  of  the  San  Antonio-Nacogdoches  Road,  and 
an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  was  formed,  by  which 
the  Fredonians  and  the  Cherokees  were  to  work  their  inde- 
pendence and  then  divide  East  Texas  equally. 

There  was  a  rather  celebrated  globe  trotter  named  John 
Dunn  Hunter,  whose  journeys  and  voyages  through  the 
world  had  been  more  thrilling,  if  possible,  than  those  of 
Sinbad  the  Sailor.  At  this  particular  time,  he  was  in  some 
way  connected  with  the  Mexican  Government,  as  an  agent 
among  the  Cherokees.  Hunter  and  Richard  Fields,  the 
Cherokee  Chief,  manipulated  this  new  alliance  with  the 
Fredonians. 

Austin  had  foreseen  this  trouble  and  as  early  as  March 
of  this  year,  1826,  he  had  written  Edwards  a  long,  scathing 

56 


THE  FREDONIAN  REBELLION 

letter,  frankly  telling  him  that  his  course  of  dealing  and  his 
indiscreet  utterances  would  get  him  into  serious  trouble. 
After  reviewing  various  rumors  as  to  Edwards'  doings  and 
sayings,  the  young  Empresario  warned  the  old  man  thus: 
"One  moment's  reflection  will  show  you  the  imprudence 
and  impropriety  of  such  utterances  as  those  attributed  to 
you."  Edwards  and  those  associated  with  him,  foreseeing 
this  crisis,  had  sent  letters  to  many  influential  men  in  Aus- 
tin's  Colony,  urging  them  to  join  in  resistance  to  the  Mex- 
ican authority,  and  most  of  these  letters  had  been  for- 
warded to  Austin,  or  called  to  his  attention.  Austin  knew 
the  utter  folly  of  Edwards'  course,  and  foresaw  that  if  any 
suspicion  attached  to  him  or  his  colonists,  that  the  whole 
colonial  scheme  would  be  wiped  out.  He  therefore  used 
every  endeavor,  not  only  to  suppress  the  rebellion,  but  to 
show  the  Mexican  authorities  that  he  was  in  accord  with 
them,  and  that  he  had  no  sympathy  with  the  Fredonian 
movement. 


XX. 

THE  FEEDONIAN  REBELLION. 

When  news  of  the  arrival  of  Edwards,  with  his  Fre- 
donian army  «of  fifteen  persons,  was  carried  to  the  au- 
thorities in  Mexico,  there  was  a  great  hurrying  to  and  fro, 
and  military  preparations  to  suppress  the  rebellion  were 
begun  on  a  large  scale.  It  was  confidently  believed  by 
the  people  of  Mexico,  and  by  many  of  the  Mexican  leaders, 
that  this  was  the  first  effort  of  the  United  States  of  the 
North,  as  they  called  our  country,  to  claim  Texas,  and 

57 


THE  FREDONIAN  REBELLION 

they  confidently  believed  that  they  would  be  at  war  with 
the  United  States,  as  soon  as  their  forces  reached  Texas. 

The  Mexican  Congress  voted  a  large  sum  of  money  to  de- 
fray the  expenses  of  the  campaign  and  an  expedition  of 
troops  was  arranged  to  be  sent  by  Vera  Cruz,  to  land  in 
Galveston  Bay  and  march  overland  to  Nacogdoches.  Ar- 
rangements were  put  on  foot  to  send  an  army  across  the 
Rio  Grande.  Long  before  these  ambitious  plans  were  under 
way,  however,  the  rebellion  had  collapsed  with  its  own 
weight  and  under  the  pressure  of  the  local  military  au- 
thorities. 

Colonel  Ellis  P.  Bean,  who  had  come  into  Texas  with 
Nolan  in  1812,  and  who  had  spent  several  of  the  interven- 
ing years  in  a  Mexican  dungeon,  and  had  in  this  way  be- 
come a  naturalized  Mexican  citizen,  resided  near  Nacog- 
doches in  those  days.  The  story  of  Bean  is  an  interesting 
and  romantic  one,  but  I  will  not  stop  to  relate  it  here.  He 
carried  the  title  of  Colonel  of  Militia  under  the  Mexican 
Government,  and  had  authority  to  look  after  matters  per- 
taining to  the  Indians.  Being  an  American,  he  was  mis- 
trusted by  the  Mexican  authorities,  and  being  a  Mexican 
official,  he  was  mistrusted  by  the  American  colonists.  But 
Colonel  Bean  assumed  authority  to  take  action  against  the 
Fredonian  rebels  and  moved  on  to  Nacogdoches. 

Saucedo,  the  Mexican  Political  Chief  at  Bexar,  sent  a 
detachment  of  two  hundred  men  by  way  of  San  Felipe. 
From  San  Felipe,  and  after  a  conference  with  Austin,  Sau- 
cedo issued  a  mighty  manifesto  to  the  colonists,  reviewing 
the  entire  Nacogdoches  trouble  and  advising  that  on  the 
morrow,  January  22nd,  1827,  he  would  march  on  to  Nac- 
ogdoches. Austin  felt  that  the  fate  of  his  Colony  was  at 
stake  and  that  if  there  was  the  least  suspicion  of  his  loyalty, 
or  his  sympathy  with  Edwards,  that  all  was  lost.  There 

58 


THE  FBEDONIAN  REBELLION 

were  no  more  than  a  thousand  American  families  in  all 
Texas  at  that  time,  and  the  destruction  of  the  entire  colo- 
nial venture  would  have  been  an  easy  matter.  Then,  too, 
Austin  was  under  the  deepest  obligations  to  the  Mexican 
Government.  Whatever  the  treatment  of  Edwards  might 
have  been,  yet  the  authorities  at  Mexico  had  been  fair  to 
Austin,  and  held  him  in  high  esteem.  In  order  to  give 
public  evidence  of  his  position  in  the  matter,  he  raised  a 
detachment  of  men  from  his  Colony,  to  accompany  Sau- 
cedo's  Army.  In  addition  to  this,  Austin  sent  a  commit- 
tee to  Nacogdoches,  composed  of  Richard  Ellis,  James 
Cummings  and  James  Kerr,  with  instructions  to  investigate 
and  report,  and  to  use  their  influence  to  induce  the  revo- 
lutionists to  forbear.  Austin's  committee  made  an  inter- 
esting report,  advising  that  they  had  met  Edwards  and 
John  Dunn  Hunter,  and  that  they  were  unwilling  to  accept 
amnesty,  but  would  insist  upon  absolute  freedom  of  all  the 
country  north  of  the  Rio  Grande. 

On  January  4th,  before  Saucedo's  men,  along  with  the 
colonial  troops,  could  reach  Nacogdoches,  Alcalde  Norris 
had  raised  an  army  of  sixty-seven  loyal  men,  and  with 
this  force,  marched  into  Nacogdoches  to  give  battle  to  the 
Fredonian  forces.  The  Fredonian  army  had  disbanded 
for  the  day,  not  expecting  any  hostile  activity,  and  when 
Alcalde  Norris'  army  appeared,  only  eleven  white  men  and 
nine  Indians  were  available  for  defense.  They  rallied,  how- 
ever, and  defeated  the  Government  forces,  this  being  the 
only  active  engagment  that  was  fought.  One  Fredonian 
was  wounded  and  one  of  Norris'  men  killed. 

In  the  meantime  Colonel  Bean  had  started  a  counter  in- 
trigue with  the  Cherokees.  Austin  and  Saucedo  wrote 
letters  to  Fields  and  Hunter,  but  these  leaders  were  bent 
on  revolution.  Through  Bean's  influences,  however,  dis- 

59 


THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  FREDONIAN  REBELLION 

sention  was  brought  about  among  the  Cherokees  and  they 
held  a  council  of  war  and  decided  to  rescind  their  late  agree- 
ments with  the  Fredonians  and  ally  themselves  with  the 
Mexican  authorities,  and  as  evidence  of  their  good  faith  in 
this  new  alliance,  they  ruthlessly  slew  Dick  Fields,  the 
Cherokee  Chief,  and  John  Dunn  Hunter,  the  celebrated 
globe  trotter. 

After  some  skirmishing,  and  shorn  of  their  Indian  al- 
lies, the  Fredonians  fled,  and  the  Mexican  flag  again 
floated  at  Nacogdoches.  The  revolution  was  at  an  end  be- 
fore Saucedo's  army  arrived,  and  that  doughty  warrior  was 
denied  the  pleasure  of  military  triumphs. 

Edwards  and  the  Fredonians,  and  their  premature,  ill- 
starred  revolution  were  gone,  but  like  the  song  of  John 
Brown  of  Ossowatomie,  their  souls  went  marching  on. 
Men  of  more  judgment  and  descretion  wrought  what  they 
so  wildly  aimed  at. 


XXI. 

THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  FREDONIAN  REBELLION. 

The  rise  and  fall  of  Fredonia,  though  apparently  a  small 
matter,  of  local  significance  only,  was  in  fact  far  otherwise. 
It  was  the  first  skirmish  in  the  trouble  which  ended  at 
San  Jacinto,  to  be  renewed  again  in  the  Mexican  war  with 
the  United  States,  twenty  years  later.  Its  importance  was 
not  overlooked  at  the  time,  either  in  the  United  States  or 
Mexico.  There  were  wild  rumors  all  through  Mexico  that 
it  was  an  instigation  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  with  designs  to  claim  the  Rio  Grande  as  a  boundary. 

60 


THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  FREDONIAN  REBELLION 

So  strong  was  this  feeling  in  Mexico  that  in  1827  Henry 
Clay,  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Cabinet  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,  addressed  a  letter  to  Obregon,  the  Minister  from 
Mexico  to  the  United  States  at  that  time,  expressing  regret 
at  the  occurrence  and  disavowing  any  sympathy  with  it. 
Mexico  was  so  profoundly  stirred  that  great  preparations 
were  made  to  invade  Texas  by  land  and  by  sea,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  putting  down  the  Fredonians  and  warring  with 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  whom  they  confidently  be- 
lieved would  come  into  the  fray.  One  thousand  men  were 
marshaled  to  come  by  sea,  and  ten  thousand  were  designed 
to  march  overland.  When  the  news  of  the  fall  of  the  Fre- 
donians was  received  in  Mexico,  this  contemplated  army  of 
invasion  turned  its  attention  to  an  internal  revolution  which 
was  brewing.  The  strange  aspect  of  the  Mexican  colonial 
policy,  which  invited  and  admitted  people  from  the  United 
States  to  settle  in  Texas,  becomes  stranger  still  when  we 
fully  understand  the  eternal  feeling  of  suspicion  and  mis- 
trust which  existed  toward  the  United  States  in  Mexico 
during  these  years,  and  one  must  candidly  admit  that  sub- 
sequent events  seemed  to  justify  this  suspicion.  Those 
were  the  days  when  the  Democratic  party,  committed  to 
the  domination  of  the  slave-holding  element  in  the  South, 
was  in  the  ascendency,  and  designed  to  rule  the  fortunes 
of  this  country  and  shape  its  policies,  until  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War,  in  the  next  generation. 

The  eternal  quarrel  as  to  the  boundary  line  between  the 
Spanish  and  French  possessions  in  America,  or  between 
Louisiana,  which  was  nominally  considered  French,  and 
Texas,  which  was  considered  Spanish,  had  lasted  for  two 
centuries,  and  when  the  United  States  acquired  Louisiana 
from  Napoleon,  it  succeeded  to  this  boundary  line  dispute. 
There  was  much  reason  for  France  to  have  contended  that 


61 


THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  FREDONIAN  REBELLION 

Louisiana  extended  to  the  Rio  Grande.  In  fact,  the  French 
title,  based  on  the  explorations  of  La  Salle,  was  about  as 
good  as  any  title  which  Spain  could  assert.  The  United 
States,  as  successor  to  the  French  title,  could  have  insisted 
upon  the  Rio  Grande  as  the  boundary  between  Louisiana 
and  the  Spanish  possessions  in  Mexico,  but  prior  to  1820, 
the  American  people  were  more  interested  in  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  River  and  in  possession  of  Florida  and 
the  elimination  of  all  Spanish  claims  in  that  quarter  than  in 
the  remote  western  boundary  of  Louisiana.  This  accounts 
for  the  De  Onis  Treaty,  of  1819,  concluded  during  the  first 
administration  of  Monroe,  by  the  terms  of  which  Spain  ced- 
ed all  claim  to  Florida  and  the  United  States  recognized  the 
Sabine  and  the  Red  River  as  the  southwestern  boundary  of 
Louisiana.  Within  two  years  after  this  Treaty  was  ratified, 
Mexico  achieved  its  independence,  and  the  question  arose  as 
to  whether  it  was  bound  by  the  Treaty  or  could  insist  upon 
its  recognition  by  the  United  States.  Just  how  there  could 
be  any  question  about  it,  I  cannot  see,  but  nevertheless  it 
seems  to  have  been  much  debated  and  it  was  currently  be- 
lieved in  Mexico  that  the  United  States  would  make  the 
contention  that  the  Treaty  was  not  binding  upon  it  as 
against  the  new  Mexican  Nation,  that  country  not  having 
been  a  party  to  it.  Then,  too,  there  was  a  general  feeling 
in  the  United  States  that  in  some  way  the  Treaty  would 
either  be  abrogated,  or  ignored  and  set  aside,  and  the  United 
States  would  acquire  Texas. 

The  very  first  Minister  from  Mexico  to  the  United  States, 
in  1822,  discovered  this  feeling  and  hastened  to  warn  his 
Government  of  it  and  to  exaggerate  it  into  a  widespread 
conspiracy  to  occupy  all  the  country  north  of  the  Rio 
Grande.  As  early  as  October,  1822,  Zazaya,  first  Mexican 
Minister,  wrote  his  Government,  after  he  had  been  in  the 


THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  FREDONIAN  REBELLION 

United  States  only  a  few  weeks,  that  he  had  discovered  am- 
bitious designs  with  reference  to  Texas,  and  this  letter  and 
similar  warnings  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Mexican  officials 
when  Iturbede  and  his  committee,  as  well  at  the  Ten-Min- 
ute Congress,  approved  Austin's  first  grant,  in  April,  1823. 
In  that  year,  Torrens,  who  had  become  Mexican  Minister 
at  Washington,  continued  his  warnings,  and  in  August, 

1823,  sent  specific  recommendations  against  allowing  the 
American   population    to   become   predominant   in    Texas. 
These  reports  were  so  frequent  and  so  alarming  as  to  cause 
the  Mexican  Government  to  take  urgent  steps  to  have  the 
De  Onis  Treaty  so  recognized  as  to  make  it  binding  on  the 
United  States  and  to  work  out  the  boundaries  with  great 
precision. 

On  April  15,  1824,  the  Political  Chief  at  San  Antonio 
wrote  to  the  Government  at  Mexico :  ' '  The  American  Gov- 
ernment counts  Texas  its  own  and  even  included  it  on  its 
maps,  tracing  its  boundaries  to  the  Rio  Grande. "  Yet 
on  this  very  day,  April  15,  1824,  the  authorities  at  Sal- 
tillo  granted  Green  De  Witt,  Hayden  Edwards  and  Frost 
Thorne  vast  colonial  tracts,  covering  large  portions  of 
Texas.  The  fears  of  Mexico  in  this  behalf  were  fanned  into 
white  heat  by  the  Fredonian  outbreak,  and  after  it  sub- 
sided, they  were  continuously  kept  aroused  by  repeated  ef- 
forts of  the  United  States  to  purchase  Texas.  From  the 
beginning  of  the  John  Quincy  Adams  Administration,  in 

1824,  until  the  Revolution,  in  1836,  the  State  Department 
at  Washington  never  ceased  its  efforts  to  induce  the  various 
governments,  which  abode  their  destined  hour  in  Mexico, 
to  sell  Texas.    Joel  Poinsett,  our  Minister  to  Mexico  during 
the  Adams  Administration,  was  instructed  to  buy  Texas, 
and  Henry  Clay,  Secretary  of  State  under  Adams,  wrote 
him  volumes  upon  the  subject.     He  was  told  to  make  an 

63 


THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  FREDONIAN  REBELLION 

effort  to  get  the  Kio  Grande  as  a  boundary,  failing  in  that 
to  try  for  the  Lavaca  or  the  Nueces  of  the  Colorado,  or  even 
the  Brazos,  and  was  given  a  scale  of  prices  for  these  various 
boundaries ;  but  every  offer  made  to  every  one  of  the  rapidly 
changing  Governments  in  Mexico  was  met  by  a  flat  refusal. 
At  one  time,  Poinsett  wrote  Clay,  in  1825,  that  if  the 
United  States  would  let  up  on  its  efforts  for  a  few  years, 
the  American  settlers  then  pouring  into  Texas  would  be- 
come so  boisterous  and  troublesome  that  Mexico  might  be 
more  willing  to  sell  Texas,  to  get  rid  of  them.  In  one  of 
Clay's  letters  to  Poinsett,  he  suggested  that  it  be  called  to 
Mexico's  attention  that  the  United  States  was  better 
equipped  to  take  care  of  the  Comanche  Indians  than 
Mexico,  and  that  if  it  acquired  Texas,  it  would  take  it  over, 
Indians  and  all,  and  would  look  after  these  troublesome 
people. 

With  the  incoming  of  the  Jackson  Administration,  in 
1828,  these  activities  were  renewed  or  accelerated.  Jackson 
sent  one  Anthony  Butler,  of  infamous  memory,  as  Min- 
ister to  Mexico,  and  he  began  a  six-year  course  of  treacher- 
ous intrigue  which  became  the  scandal  of  the  day,  all  de- 
signed to  beg,  bribe  or  steal  Texas  away  from  the  Mexican 
Federation.  Mexican  leaders  during  these  years  became  al- 
most hysterical  about  the  designs  of  the  United  States,  and 
they  had  much  indeed  upon  which  to  found  their  hysteria; 
but  all  of  the  time,  new  grants  were  being  made  to  Em- 
presarios  and  the  stream  of  colonists  continued  unabated, 
until  1830.  Mexican  papers  from  time  to  time  published 
attacks  on  this  Government,  and  in  the  Mexican  Congress 
it  was  openly  charged  that  the  United  States  and  its  peo- 
ple were  natural  and  deadly  enemies  to  Mexico.  These  con- 
tradictory things  are  hard  to  understand  a  hundred  years 
after. 


64 


GENERAL  MANUEL  MIER  y  TERAN 

XXII. 
GENERAL  MANUEL  MIER  y  TERAN. 

There  is  an  interesting  and  pathetic  glimpse  of  the  times, 
1828  to  1832,  found  in  the  biography  of  this  brilliant  and 
gifted  man.  General  Teran  had  been  a  leader  in  the 
patriot  cause  during  the  war  for  independence,  1810  to 
1821,  and  followed  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  rebel  army 
during  these  long,  bitter  years.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
intellect,  splendidly  educated  and  of  sterling  character. 
The  earlier  Texas  historians  have  contented  themselves 
with  rude  flings  at  Teran,  and  indeed  he  was  not  a  prime 
favorite  with  the  Texas  colonists,  but  at  this  date  we  can 
look  back  upon  his  character  and  career  and  realize  in  him 
a  really  great  and  patriotic  man,  who  tried  to  serve  his 
country  with  as  much  fairness  to  the  Texas  colonists  as 
seemed  consistent  with  his  own  country's  safety. 

When  the  boundary  question  with  the  United  States  be- 
came acute,  the  Mexican  Congress  passed  numerous  reso- 
lutions and  acts  and  imposed  treaties  designed  to  adjust  it, 
and  a  Commission  was  created,  to  go  upon  the  ground  and 
mark  the  boundary  with  proper  monuments.  In  1827, 
shortly  after  the  Fredonian  incident,  General  Teran  was 
sent  to  Texas  on  this  Commission.  The  purpose  of  his  mis- 
sion, however,  was  much  broader  than  the  mere  locating  and 
marking  of  the  Texas  boundaries.  Among  the  specific 
instructions  that  he  is  known  to  have  received  from  the 
Minister  of  Relations  in  the  Mexican  Cabinet,  was  to  make 
a  report  upon  the  desirability  of  maintaining  garrisons  and 
troops  at  various  points  in  Texas.  He  journeyed  to  Bexar 
and  after  a  visit  there,  stopped  for  a  time  at  San  Felipe 
and  visited  other  points  in  Austin's  Colony.  Here  he 


65 


GENERAL  MANUEL  MIER  y  TERAN 

formed  an  acquaintance  and  intimate  friendship  with 
Austin,  who  seems  to  have  won  Teran 's  confidence  and  ad- 
miration. From  San  Felipe,  he  proceeded  on  to  Naeogdo- 
ches,  where  he  tarried  for  some  time  and  studied  the  local 
situation. 

General  Teran  wielded  greater  influence  in  Texas  affairs 
than  any  other  Mexican  of  his  day,  prior  to  Santa  Anna, 
and  his  activities  wrought  much  in  our  destiny.  From  the 
time  of  his  visit  to  the  date  of  his  tragic  death,  in  1832,  he 
was  the  eyes  and  ears  and  brains  of  Mexican  officialdom  in 
Texas.  His  reports  to  his  Government  about  Texas  form  a 
chapter  of  intense  interest  and  can  be  better  understood 
now,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events.  Every  law  and  de- 
cree, as  well  as  every  movement  or  policy  towards  or  affect- 
ing Texas  during  these  years  emanated  from  him,  or  from 
suggestions  and  recommendations  that  he  made  to  his  Gov- 
ernment. At  the  time  of  his  arrival  at  Nacogdoches,  a 
small  garrison  was  located  there,  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Piedras,  who  had  been  stationed  there  in  June, 
1827,  after  the  Fredonian  fiasco,  to  keep  the  peace  and 
resist  the  aggressions  of  the  United  States  of  the  north. 

Guadalupe  Victoria  was  the  first  Constitutional  President 
of  Mexico,  and  Teran  was  his  intimate  friend.  From  Nac- 
ogdoches, Teran  made  a  lengthy  confidential  report  to 
Victoria,  which  is  a  very  interesting  and  important  docu- 
ment, showing  a  Mexican's  insight  into  Texas  affairs.  One 
reading  this  letter  sees  in  it  seemingly  strange  contradic- 
tions, but  they  are  the  struggle  of  a  strong  man  with  a  fate 
which  he  foresees,  but  will  not  admit.  In  his  communica- 
tion he  says  that  Mexican  influence  has  about  ceased  in 
Texas,  in  fact  that  it  is  scarcely  felt  at  all  in  East  Texas, 
where  the  American  population  is  both  aggressive  and 
thrifty,  and  the  Mexicans  poor  and  ignorant  and  the  very 

66 


GENERAL  MANUEL  MIER  y  TERAN 

lowest  class.  That  the  Americans  maintain  a  school  for 
their  children,  where  they  are  taught  in  English,  but  there 
is  no  school  for  Mexican  children.  That  it  would  cause  his 
enlightened  countrymen  chagrin  to  see  the  contempt  in 
which  Mexicans  are  held  by  the  foreigners,  who  have  never 
Been  or  known  any  other  Mexicans  save  these  low,  ignorant 
and  thriftless  fellows  about  Nacogdoches. 

After  recounting  these  things  in  great  detail,  he  pro- 
ceeds thus:  "I  tell  myself  that  it  could  not  be  otherwise 
but  that  from  such  a  state  of  affairs  an  antagonism  will  arise, 
which  is  not  the  least  of  the  smoldering  fires  which  I  have 
discovered. ' '  He  then  points  out  the  governmental  difficul- 
ties of  the  colonists  and  states  their  grievances  fully  and 
fairly,  and  suggests  the  location  of  an  appellate  court  at 
Nacogdoches.  He  is  free  in  his  expressions  of  admiration 
for  the  honest,  industrious  colonists,  and  points  to  their 
love  of  land  ownership  as  a  "strong  virtue,"  but  he  fore- 
saw the  loss  of  Texas  and  made  many  suggestions  to  avert 
the  disaster,  which  one  can  tell  from  his  whole  communica- 
tion he  knew  was  inevitable.  The  most  urgent  of  his  sug- 
gestions was  the  strengthening  of  the  Mexican  colonies  in 
Texas. 

During  the  next  few  years,  Teran  was  Comandante 
General  of  the  Eastern  Provinces  of  Mexico,  which  included 
Texas,  and  he  kept  an  eternal  vigil  on  Texas  and  the  Tex- 
ans.  In  1829,  he  wrote  his  Government  (a  revolution  had 
changed  its  personnel  in  the  interim),  giving  his  grave  sus- 
picions as  to  the  intentions  of  the  United  States.  In  this 
letter,  he  suggests  that  the  Empresarios  are  instruments  of 
the  United  States  Government,  and  he  grows  almost  fran- 
tic, declaring  he  who  consents  to  the  loss  of  Texas  is  an  ex- 
ecrable traitor,  who  ought  to  be  punished  with  death.  He 
hints  that  war  may  break  out,  and  that  if  so,  the  colonists 

67 


GENERAL  TERAN'S  GARRISONS 

should  be  suppressed  in  a  single  campaign,  and  urges  upon 
his  home  government  plans  to  colonize  Texas  with  Mexi- 
cans. He  makes  many  other  recommendations,  all  more  or 
less  visionary,  yet  in  the  face  of  all  these  facts,  he  did  not 
recommend  cessation  of  immigration,  though  he  probably 
hinted  at  it.  He  would  have  immigration  from  the  States 
restricted,  though  just  what  restrictions  he  would  have 
were  not  clearly  stated.  He  would  not  have  Texas  left  an 
unpeopled  wilderness,  for  then  it  would  revert  entirely  to 
the  Indians,  and  the  United  States  might  occupy  it  and 
claim  it.  He  would  not  have  it  populated  wholly  by  Ameri- 
can colonists,  for  he  feared  they  would  turn  it  over  to  the 
United  States.  He  seemed  to  want  a  limited  immigration 
from  the  States,  to  act  as  a  buffer  against  the  Indians,  and 
an  immigration  from  Mexico  so  that  Texas  might  have  an 
increasing  Mexican  population. 

And  all  the  while  that  Teran  visited,  and  wrote  and 
planned,  the  stream  of  immigrants  from  the  States  con- 
tinued. 


XXIII. 

GENERAL   TERAN  >S   GARRISONS— MOEE   PEOPLE 
FROM  THE  STATES. 

General  Teran 's  recommendations  with  reference  to  Texas 
found  favor  with  the  several  governments  which  followed 
each  other  in  quick  succession  in  Mexico,  for  he  was  a  friend 
of  all  the  leaders  until  the  ascension  of  Santa  Anna  in  1832. 
Teran  found  a  strong  ally  in  all  of  his  activities  and  sus- 
picions in  Lucas  Alaman,  the  ambitious  young  Minister  of 


68 


GENERAL  TERAN'S  GARRISONS 

Relations  under  the  Victoria  Government.  Working  in 
harmony  with  the  administration,  Teran  hastened  plans  for 
establishing  Mexican  garrisons  at  various  places  in  Texas, 
and  Mexican  convicts  were  impressed  for  this  military  ser- 
vice, and  forces  were  stationed  at  Velasco,  Anahuac,  Nacog- 
doches  and  LaBahia.  On  April  6,  1830,  the  Mexican  Con- 
gress, urged  on  by  Teran  and  Alaman,  passed  the  celebrated 
decree  which  forbade  further  emigration  to  Texas  from  the 
United  States.  It  was  the  inevitable  friction  between  the 
colonists  and  these  military  authorities  which  provoked  the 
first  trouble  and  which  kept  trouble  going  until  the  revolu- 
tion in  1835-36.  Garrisons  of  soldiers  in  charge  of  such 
men  as  Col.  Piedras  at  Nacogdoches  and  the  celebrated 
and  infamous  John  Davis  Bradburn  at  Anahuac,  precip- 
itated the  strife  which  verified  the  worst  fears  of  poor 
Teran.  In  the  meantime,  however,  while  Teran  wrote  fran- 
tic letters  and  Alaman  wrought  powerfully  to  save  Texas, 
American  colonists  continued  to  pour  into  the  country  by 
the  thousands.  There  were  estimated  to  be  a  thousand 
families  here  in  1826  when  the  Fredonian  trouble  arose; 
ten  thousand  people  in  1828,  and  probably  thirty  thousand 
people  in  1832.  A  great  many  strong  and  influential  men 
came  to  Texas  during  the  period  from  1828  and  1832,  men 
who  became  leaders  during  the  succeeding  years.  Among 
those  who  came  as  early  as  1828  were  R.  M.  Williamson 
from  Georgia,  familiarly  known  as  "Three-legged  Willie/' 
and  as  the  "Patrick  Henry  of  the  Revolution ;"  Gail  Borden, 
who  came  from  New  York;  David  G.  Burnett  from  New 
Jersey ;  John  A.  and  William  H.  Wharton  from  Tennessee, 
and  many  others  whose  names  have  become  household  terms 
in  Texas.  There  was  soon  a  wide-spread  feeling  among  the 
colonists,  and  especially  the  new  arrivals,  in  favor  of  a  more 
positive  policy,  and  following  the  advent  of  Teran 's  mili- 

69 


GENERAL  TERAN'S  GARRISONS 

tary  garrisons  there  were  many  murnmrings  and  much  sub- 
dued talk  of  independence.  The  colonists  continued  to 
prosper,  however,  and  the  prosperity  was  in  no  small  meas- 
ure due  to  the  slave-holding  element,  who  were  able  to 
raise  large  crops  of  cotton  for  export. 

After  the  organization  of  the  Mexican  Government  un- 
der the  Constitution  of  1824,  Texas  had  remained  a  part  of 
Coahuila,  and  whatever  semblance  of  a  State  Government  it 
had  depended  upon  the  authorities  at  Saltillo  and  Mon- 
clavia  and  such  other  Mexican  places  as  were  from  time  to 
time  the  capitals  of  Coahuila,  a  thousand  miles  away  from 
the  Colonies. 

Prior  to  1828,  Austin  was  the  Government  of  the  Colonies. 
In  1827,  a  constitution  was  formed  for  Coahuila  and  Texas, 
and  in  the  following  year  there  was  an  organization  of  the 
State  Government  under  this  constitution.  The  first  elec- 
tion ever  held  in  Texas  was  for  members  of  the  Ayuntamen- 
to  of  San  Felipe  in  1828.  This  council,  when  chosen,  had 
jurisdiction  between  the  Lavaca  and  San  Jacinto  Rivers 
and  the  sea.  It  composed  all  of  Austin's  Colony,  and  the 
new  municipal  body  became  the  first  authoritative  local 
government,  succeeding  to  many  functions  which  had  there- 
tofore been  exercised  by  Austin  alone.  Two  hundred  thirty- 
two  votes  were  cast,  and  when  the  ballots  were  sent  to 
Austin  at  San  Felipe,  it  was  found  that  Thomas  M.  Duke 
had  been  chosen  Alcalde;  Thomas  Davis  and  Humphry 
Jackson,  Regidores,  and  Rawson  Alley,  Sindico. 

These  officials  with  strange  sounding  names  composed  a 
local  council  with  such  functions  as  are  necessary  for  local 
government.  But  in  point  of  fact  this  council  did  very 
little,  for  the  colonists  required  little  government. 

There  was  no  system  of  taxation,  for  the  colonists  were 
never  required  to  pay  a  direct  or  advalorem  tax  to  the 

70 


BRADBURN  AT  ANAHUAC 

Federal  or  State  Government,  and  the  effort  later  to  col- 
lect customs  at  the  ports  of  Anahuac,  Velasco  and  elsewhere 
on  the  coast  met  with  such  violent  opposition  that  it  was 
in  effect  abandoned  after  1832. 


XXIV. 
BRADBURN  AT  ANAHUAC. 

One  of  Teran's  garrisons  was  in  charge  of  Col.  John 
Davis  Bradburn  at  Anahuac  at  the  eastern  end  of  Gal- 
veston  Bay.  This  Bradburn  was  a  renegade  American,  who 
began  life  as  a  small  merchant,  but  his  mercantile  business 
languished  somewhat  and  he  was  caught  in  an  effort  to 
steal  some  slaves  from  a  Tennessee  planter  and  incarcerated 
in  the  Columbia,  Tennessee,  jail.  He  escaped  prison -by  the 
assistance  of  a  saw  which  someone  smuggled  in  to  him,  and 
found  his  way  to  Mexico,  where  he  joined  the  revolution 
and  gained  some  distinction  as  a  patriot,  and  the  favor  of 
Iturbede,  under  whom  he  fought.  At  a  later  date  he  got  a 
commission  from  the  legislature  of  Coahuila  giving  him  the 
monopoly  of  operating  steamboats  on  the  Rio  Grande  River, 
but  his  efforts  at  navigation  prospered  little  better  than 
his  endeavors  at  slave  stealing.  In  the  meantime  he  had 
become  a  Colonel  in  the  Mexican  Army,  and  we  find  him 
now  in  charge  at  Anahuac,  where  there  was  a  considerable 
settlement  of  American  colonists.  Early  in  1832  the  popu- 
lation at  Anahuac  embraced  a  number  of  persons  who 
afterwards  became  well  known  in  the  Colonies,  among  them 
Monroe  Edwards,  William  Barrett  Travis,  R.  M.  William- 
son and  Patrick  C.  Jack.  Bradburn,  who  was  a  low-flung 


71 


BRADBURN  AT  ANAHUAC 

fellow,  soon  began  a  series  of  intolerable  tyrannies.  He 
went  up  to  Liberty  suspended  the  functions  of  the  local 
Ayuntamento,  and  strolled  up  and  down  the  coast  country 
with  a  great  show  of  military  authority.  Travis  and  Jack 
were  heard  to  say  something  unkind  about  him,  or  something 
derogatory  to  his  greatness,  and  he  sent  a  squad  of  soldiers 
to  arrest  them  and  had  them  incarcerated,  announcing  that 
he  intended  to  send  them  to  Vera  Cruz  or  some  remote  Mex- 
ican place  to  be  court  martialed.  This  act  of  tyranny 
brought  on  what  was  probably  the  first  political  meeting 
or  gathering  designed  to  protest  against  Mexican  tyranny 
ever  held  in  Texas.  There  was  a  gathering  at  Brazoria, 
where  it  was  decided  that  a  committee  should  be  sent  to 
Anahuac  to  demand  the  release  of  Travis  and  Jack.  A 
committee  composed  of  William  H.  Jack  and  Branch  T. 
Archer  went  over  to  Anahuac  and  demanded  a  surrender  of 
the  prisoners.  Negotiations  for  their  release  were  unsuc- 
cessful and  a  small  company  was  raised  at  Brazoria,  for 
the  purpose  of  going  over  and  forcibly  effecting  their  re- 
lease. At  that  time  there  was  a  Mexican  garrison  stationed 
at  Velasco  at  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos  in  charge  of  a  Mexi- 
can Colonel  by  the  name  of  Ugartechea.  The  Brazoria 
committee  waited  on  this  military  person  and  told  him  that 
they  intended  to  go  over  to  Anahuac  and  have  a  settlement 
with  Bradburn,  and  requested  that  he  remain  quiescent 
and  offer  Bradburn  no  assistance  during  their  absence. 
Among  those  who  went  from  Brazoria  were  John  Austin, 
Warren  D.  C.  Hall,  William  H.  Hall,  William  J.  Russell, 
and  others.  On  the  way  they  were  joined  by  Wiley  Martin 
from  Fort  Bend,  and  F.  W.  Johnson  and  other  persons  from 
along  the  Brazos.  Bradburn  heard  of  the  approach  of  the 
colonists,  and  that  they  intended  to  affect  the  release  of  the 
prisoners,  and  dispatched  a  small  company  of  cavalry  to 


72 


BRADBURN  AT  ANAHUAC 

intercept  them.  The  men  from  the  Brazos,  however,  sur- 
prised and  captured  all  of  the  cavalry  and  then  proceeded 
to  Anahuac,  where  they  made  an  armistice  with  Bradburn 
which  he  hastened  to  violate.  As  they  approached  Ana- 
huac, William  J.  Russell  saw  a  Mexican  sentry  standing 
under  a  tree  some  hundred  yards  away  and  by  crawling  in 
tHe  grass  he  got  close  enough  to  him  to  kill  him  at  a  single 
shot ;  and  this  was  the  first  blood  shed  in  the  long  series  of 
conflicts  that  ensued  between  Texas  and  Mexico.  The  men 
from  the  Brazos,  however,  were  without  artillery  and  fell 
back  to  Turtle  Bayou,  while  they  sent  over  to  Brazoria  for 
a  small  cannon.  While  they  were  waiting  at  Turtle  Bayou 
they  had  an  opportunity  to  ponder  over  the  situation.  Here 
was  a  small  handful  of  colonists  about  to  bring  on  a  con- 
flict with  a  Mexican  garrison  which  would  bring  down  upon 
the  people  of  Texas  the  entire  Mexican  Nation.  News  had 
reached  Texas  about  this  time  that  Santa  Anna  had  started 
a  revolution  in  Mexico  and  that  he  had  proclaimed  himself 
the  friend  of  the  constitution  of  1824,  and  while  this  little 
company  awaited  the  return  of  the  men  sent  for  the  ar- 
tillery, the  happy  thought  possessed  R.  M.  Williamson  that 
they  should  put  in  writing  the  causes  for  which  they  were 
contending,  and  he  then  and  there  presented  to  those  with 
him  for  adoption  the  celebrated  "  Turtle  Bayou  Resolu- 
tions. ' '  These  resolutions  set  forth  that  the  people  of  Texas 
were  loyal  to  Mexico,  that  the  taking  up  of  arms  was  against 
the  tyranny  of  Bradburn  and  other  small  military  tyrants, 
and  they  declared  against  the  Bustamente  Government  and 
in  favor  of  that  great  champion  of  the  liberty  of  people, 
General  Santa  Anna.  These  resolutions  served  a  very 
useful  purpose,  as  we  shall  later  see.  In  the  meantime  re- 
enforcements  arrived  and  the  men  from  the  Brazos  moved 
on  to  Anahuac,  captured  the  town  and  sent  the  Mexican 

73 


THE  BATTLE  OF  VELASCO 

soldiers  back  home  and  put  Bradburn  in  the  road  to  Louisi- 
ana, giving  him  a  very  limited  time  in  which  to  reach  the 
frontier. 


XXV. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  VELASCO. 

The  men  of  Brazoria  had  put  business  before  pleasure 
and  had  gone  over  to  clean  up  Bradburn  at  Anahuac,  before 
doing  the  same  honor  to  Colonel  Ugartechea  and  his  com- 
mand at  Velasco,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos.  They  ex- 
acted a  gentlemen's  agreement  from  the  Colonel  that  he 
would  "stay  put"  and  would  not  send  any  reinforcements 
to  Bradburn,  or  as  it  were,  that  he  would  be  dormant  while 
they  captured  Bradburn  and  ran  his  garrison  out  of  the 
country.  After  this  they  planned  to  come  back  and  do  the 
same  thing  to  Ugartechea,  but  it  is  not  recorded  that  they 
told  him  in  so  many  words  that  this  was  their  plan,  al- 
though he  well  may  have  surmised  it.  After  they  had 
gotten  away  and  sent  back  for  the  cannon  that  was  to  be 
brought  up  while  the  men  of  Brazoria  waited  at  Turtle 
Bayou,  Ugartechea  repented  of  his  inactivity  and  refused 
to  allow  boats  carrying  guns  to  Anahuac  to  pass  out  of  the 
river.  In  addition  to  this,  the  Colonel  showed  some  signs 
of  activity  about  his  fort,  which  indicated  that  he  was  put- 
ting himself  in  a  high  state  of  defense,  and  as  soon  as  the 
business  at  Anahuac  was  done,  these  same  Brazoria  per- 
sons turned  their  attention  to  Ugartechea 's  garrison  at 
Velasco.  William  J.  Russell,  who  had  shot  the  Mexican 
sentinel  at  Anahuac,  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  the 
Velasco  Campaign. 


74 


THE  BATTLE  OF  VELASCO 

The  volunteers  who  enlisted  for  the  siege  of  Velasco 
selected  John  Austin  Captain.  He  was  no  kin  to  Stephen, 
but  had  come  to  Texas  from  New  England,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  colonies.  The  fort  was  attacked  by  land  and  by  sea. 
The  navy  was  a  small  schooner  which  was  temporarily  an- 
chored in  the  harbor,  and  which  Admiral  Russell  impressed 
into  the  service  for  the  occasion.  They  turned  this  simple 
little  three-master  into  a  man-of-war,  placing  two  small 
cannon  on  its  deck  and  eighteen  rifle-men  mid-ships,  who 
under  the  command  of  Admiral  Russell,  opened  a  bombard- 
ment from  the  river  side  of  the  fort.  After  the  battle  had 
raged  for  a  night  and  a  day,  the  fort  surrendered.  Seven 
Texans  were  killed  and  twenty-seven  wounded.  The  Mex- 
ican losses  were  forty-two  dead  and  more  than  seventy 
wounded.  The  terms  of  the  surrender  were,  that  Colonel 
Ugartechea  and  the  small  remnants  of  his  forces  able  to 
migrate  were  to  go  back  to  Mexico.  A  few  weeks  Inter, 
Colonel  Piedras  of  Nacogdoches,  who  commanded  the  only 
remaining  garrison  in  Texas,  was  subjected  to  considerable 
trouble  by  the  colonists  in  East  Texas ;  and  after  some  forty 
of  his  men  had  been  killed,  and  as  many  wounded,  he  ac- 
ceded to  the  suggestion  that  he  go  south,  and  moved  out 
with  the  remnant  of  his  garrison.  With  the  passing  of  Pie- 
dras, the  last  of  poor  Teran's  men  were  driven  from  Texas. 
This  spontaneous  uprising  on  the  part  of  the  colonists,  and 
the  bloody  expulsion  of  the  Mexican  garrisons  from  Texas, 
would  undoubtedly  have  brought  disaster  to  the  colonists, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  miraculous  intervention  of  a  timely 
revolution  in  Mexico. 

Upon  the  fall  of  Iturbede,  in  1823,  the  ten-minute  Con- 
gress assumed  authority,  until  the  formation  of  the  con- 
stitution, in  1824,  and  Guadalupe  Victoria,  a  great  and  good 
man,  had  been  chosen  first  Constitutional  President.  Near 


75 


"LONG  LIVE  SANTA  ANNA" 

the  close  of  his  term,  in  1828,  a  revolution,  resulted  in  Don 
Manuel  Pedraza  being  named  President;  but  he  was  not 
permitted  to  hold  the  office.  Before  he  could  get  comfort- 
ably seated,  another  revolution,  fomented  by  Santa  Anna 
and  headed  by  Guerrera,  took  the  Presidency  vi  et  armis. 

Bustamente  was  Guerrera 's  Vice  President,  and  he 
promptly  started  a  new  revolution  which  in  the  following 
year  raised  him  to  the  Presidency,  and  with  the  ascension  of 
this  boisterous  usurper,  Guerrera,  one  of  the  purest  of  all 
the  Mexican  patriots,  was  shot  as  a  traitor. 

It  was  during  the  term  of  Bustamente  that  the  Decree  of 
1830  was  promulgated,  prohibiting  the  further  immigration 
of  people  from  the  States  into  Texas.  In  1832,  Santa  Anna, 
who  had  backed  Guerrera  against  Pedraza,  and  who  had 
secretly  backed  Bustamente  against  Guerrera,  and  who  had 
consistently  plotted  against  every  Government  that  had  pre- 
vailed in  Mexico  since  he  was  old  enough  to  bear  arms, 
started  the  annual  revolution  against  Bustamente.  News 
of  Santa  Anna's  revolution  reached  Texas  about  the  time 
the  men  of  the  Brazos  were  on  their  way  to  Anahuac.  The 
people  of  Texas  hoped  and  probably  believed  that  Santa 
Anna  was  an  improvement  on  those  who  had  been  President, 
and  that  he  would  keep  his  promise  to  maintain  a  Constitu- 
tional Government.  At  any  rate,  they  declared  for  him  and 
this  was  the  excuse  that  they  offered  for  the  expulsion  of  the 
Mexican  garrisons. 


XXVI. 
"LONG  LIVE  SANTA  ANNA." 

The  four  years  which  followed  the  expulsion  of  Teran's 
military  men  from  Texas  were  the  most  interesting  and  im- 


76 


"LONG  LIVE  SANTA  ANNA" 

portant  in  all  Texas  history.  Before  entering  upon  an  out- 
line of  things  which  happened  between  the  exodus  of  Brad- 
burn  from  Anahuac,  in  June,  1832,  and  the  fall  of  Santa 
Anna  at  San  Jacinto,  in  1836,  we  can  properly  take  an  in- 
ventory as  it  were  of  the  year  1832. 

The  news  of  the  forcible  expulsion  of  the  Mexican  sol- 
diers from  Texas  made  a  terrific  impression  in  Mexico.  •  It 
was  received  there  with  the  same  apprehension  that  was 
felt  at  the  Fredonian  outbreak  in  1826.  Though  Santa 
Anna  and  Bustamente  were  in  the  death  struggle  for  the 
mastery  of  Mexico,  both  parties  and  all  factions  took  a 
moment's  armistice  at  the  receipt  of  the  ill  news  of  the 
uprising  in  Texas.  Teran  had  remained  true  to  Bustamente 
and  commanded  his  forces  in  the  Eastern  Division.  Santa 
Anna  sent  Montezuma  to  assume  command  in  that  Division, 
and  a  battle  between  him  and  Teran,  fought  in  1823, 
gave  Montezuma  the  advantage.  Teran  saw  the  sure  suc- 
cess of  Santa  Anna,  and  ill  news  was  coming  to  him  from 
Texas,  all  his  worst  fears  now  came  upon  him,  and  this  tal- 
ented and  valiant  man  fell  on  his  sword  at  Perdillo,  in  June, 
1832.  Montezuma  assumed  charge  of  affairs  in  the  East- 
ern Division,  in  the  name  of  Santa  Anna,  and  since  this 
Division  included  Texas,  he  gave  anxious  heed  to  the  wild 
rumors  of  rebellion  which  came  thick  and  fast  from  Texas, 
in  the  midsummer  of  that  year.  Like  all  the  other  Mexican 
leaders,  he  assumed  that  the  long  looked  for  rebellion  had 
come  to  pass  in  Texas,  and  he  saw  behind  it  the  wicked 
schemes  of  the  United  States  of  the  North.  A  temporary 
truce  was  arranged  between  the  warring  factions  in  Mex- 
ico, who  were  so  strenuously  striving  for  each  other's  utter 
extermination,  while  Montezuma  organized  and  dispatched 
a  strong  detachment  to  quell  the  rebellion  in  Texas. 

Colonel  Jose  Antonio  Mejia  (Mexia)  left  Tampico  in  July 

77 


"LONG  LIVE  SANTA  ANNA" 

with  a  squadron  of  six  ships  and  four  hundred  men  and 
with  plenary  powers  to  restore  order  and  Mexican  sover- 
eignty in  Texas.  As  he  came  past  Matamoros,  he  stopped 
to  confer  with  his  arch  enemy,  Colonel  Manzamores,  who 
still  held  that  small  corner  of  the  earth  for  Bustamente,  and 
that  worthy  bade  Mejia  God-speed  in  his  crusade  against 
the  common  enemy. 

During  these  troubled  days,  Stephen  F.  Austin  was  down 
at  Saltillo,  in  Coahuila,  where  he  was  attending  a  session 
of  the  Legislature,  of  which  he  was  a  member  from  Texas. 
Poor  Austin  was  not  in  sympathy  with  many  of  the  hot 
headed  leaders  in  Texas,  who  were  bent  on  war  and  separ- 
ation from  Mexico.  He  had  been  absent  from  home  some 
weeks  and  had  not  followed  the  trend  of  events.  He  was 
picked  up  at  Matamoros  by  Mejia 's  fleet  and  came  on  with 
them  to  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos,  which  they  reached  on 
July  20th,  a  few  weeks  after  the  battle  of  Velasco.  This 
afforded  Austin  a  splendid  opportunity  to  impress  upon 
Mejia  his  fidelity  to  Mexico,  and  as  was  ever  the  case  where 
the  Mexican  leaders  viewed  Texas  through  an  acquaintance 
with  Austin,  the  impression  of  Texas  and  the  Texans  was 
decidedly  improved. 

The  approach  of  Mejia 's  fleet,  supposed  to  bring  with  it 
the  ire  of  Mexico,  seemed  to  forebode  dark  days  for  the 
colonists,  and  indeed  there  was  much  apprehension  through- 
out the  country  during  these  summer  days  of  1832. 

Colonel  John  Austin,  Admiral  Wiliam  J.  Russell,  Wil- 
liam H.  Wharton,  and  others  who  were  awaiting  the  com- 
ing of  Mejia's  fleet,  artfully  met  the  situation  by  hastening 
to  meet  and  receive  the  Colonel  as  an  accredited  envoy  of 
Santa  Anna,  for  whom  they  proclaimed  in  loud  terms.  In 
order  to  duly  impress  Mejia  with  their  sincerity,  they  or- 
gnaized  a  mass  meeting  at  Brazoria  and  with  much  cere- 


78 


"LONG  LIVE  SANTA  ANNA" 

mony  read  in  a  loud  tone  of  voice  the  ' '  blessed  Turtle  Bayou 
resolutions."  Stephen  Austin  and  Colonel  Mejia  were 
everywhere  received  with  transports  of  great  joy  and  were 
wined  and  dined  up  and  down  the  Brazos.  A  banquet  of 
great  dimensions  was  held  at  the  plantation  home  of  Wil- 
liam H.  Wharton,  at  Eagle  Island,  just  below  Brazoria, 
where  there  was  rhetoric,  both  in  Spanish  and  English,  and 
music,  and  many  good  things  to  drink.  Under  these  felici- 
tous environments,  they  gave  cheers  for  Santa  Anna  and 
the  constitution  of  1824,  of  which  he  was  heralded  as  the 
champion  and  preserver.  Of  course  they  did  not  know 
that  in  trading  Bustamente  for  Santa  Anna,  they  had 
swapped  the  devil  for  the  witch,  or  possibly  I  should  say 
the  witch  for  the  devil,  but  at  any  rate  this  turn  of  affairs 
gave  the  colonists  a  respite  of  three  or  four  years,  during 
which  many  things  happened  to  improve  their  situation  and 
opportunities  for  successful  resistance. 

Colonel  Mejia  visited  San  Felipe  and  Nacogdoehes  and 
other  points  in  Texas  and  finding  everywhere  prepared 
evidences  of  loyalty  and  devotion  to  Mexico  and  to  the 
constitution  of  1824,  and  especially  to  Santa  Anna,  he  went 
home  happy.  One  cannot  but  wonder  what  would  have  been 
the  result  had  this  good  natured,  hard  drinking  Mexican 
Colonel  been  a  man  of  Teran's  ability  and  foresight,  but 
' '  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way,  His  wonders  to  perform. ' ' 

Though  Colonel  Mejia  was  in  those  days  a  champion  of 
Santa  Anna,  things  changed  about  in  later  years,  and  in 
1839  he  lead  an  expedition  outfitted  largely  at  New  Or- 
leans against  Santa  Anna,  who  was  again  in  power. 

At  the  battle  of  Hcajete,  near  Pueblo,  he  was  defeated 
and  captured,  and  Santa  Anna  sentenced  him  to  be  shot  in 
half  an  hour.  * '  He  is  very  kind, ' '  said  General  Mejia, ' '  had 
I  taken  him  I  would  have  shot  him  in  five  minutes." 


79 


/ 


I 
ta 


OLD  ETCHING   OF  SANTA   ANNA,   MADE   IN   1837 


THE  REVOLUTION 

i. 

ANTONIO  LOPEZ  DE  SANTA  ANNA. 

It  is  Eighteen  Hundred  and  Thirty-Two.  The  scenes  are 
now  set  for  the  great  drama  of  the  Revolution.  It  has  been 
ten  years  since  Austin  and  his  little  company  of  first  colo- 
nists camped  on  New  Year's  Creek  and  since  William  Mor- 
ton burned  away  the  cane  brake  and  planted  the  first  corn 
crop  on  the  banks  of  the  Brazos  across  from  where  Rich- 
mond now  stands.  Yet  these  ten  years  have  seen  won- 
drous changes.  In  1832  there  were  30,000  people  in  Texas, 
settled  all  the  way  from  the  Sabine  to  the  Guadaloupe,  all 
for  independence  from  Mexico,  and  many  of  them  intem- 
perate and  outspoken  in  their  plans  and  purposes.  They 
had  a  contempt  for  the  prudence  and  patience  of  Austin 
and  were  open  in  their  criticism  of  him. 

As  we  are  about  to  study  this  very  important  quadren- 
nial, 1832  to  1836,  it  is  interesting  to  sketch  an  outline  of 
some  of  the  remarkable  characters  who  played  upon  this 
stage.  Biography  must  ever  be  one  of  the  most  important 
forms  of  literature  and  history,  for  what  is  more  interesting 
to  men  than  the  romantic  relation  of  the  deeds  of  other 
men  of  action  who  have  been  upon  this  mortal  stage  before 
we  came  to  play  our  petty  parts  ? 

Of  the  many  names  we  encounter  in  the  drama  of  the 
Revolution  none  is  heard  more  often  than  that  of  Antonio 
Lopez  de  Santa  Anna,  who  was  born  in  Jalapa,  Mexico,  in 
1795,  and  who  died  in  the  City  of  Mexico  in  his  eighty-sec- 


81 


ANTONIO  LOPEZ  DE  SANTA  ANNA 

ond  year,  in  1876.  Few  men  have  had  a  more  interesting 
and  varied  career.  He  entered  the  Spanish  army  at  fif- 
teen, and  fought  against  the  patriot  cause  until  he  saw  the 
finish  of  Spanish  sovereignty  in  1821,  when  he,  like  Itur- 
bede,  turned  patriot.  He  supported  Iturbede  at  first,  but 
as  soon  as  that  person  eame  into  power  Santa  Anna  began 
to  plot  against  him,  for  plotting  was  ever  his  chief  enter- 
prise. As  early  as  December,  1822,  he  openly  revolted  and 
led  the  revolution  which  overthrew  the  empire  and  sent 
Iturbede  into  exile.  At  the  close  of  Victoria's  term  (he  be- 
ing the  first  constitutional  President),  Santa  Anna  led  a 
second  revolution  against  the  seating  of  Gomez  Pedraza, 
who  had  been  declared  elected  by  Congress  to  succeed  Vic- 
toria, and  this  revolution  resulted  in  having  Pedraza  driven 
out.  Santa  Anna  played  a  leading  part  in  placing  the 
patriot  Guerrera  in  power  instead  of  Pedraza.  This  was  in 
1828.  The  following  year  the  Spanish  Government  made  a 
last  feeble  attempt  to  re-conquer  Mexico,  and  landed  a 
force  at  Vera  Cruz.  Santa  Anna  led  an  army  against  the 
Spaniards  and  defeated  them,  earning  for  himself  the  plau- 
dits of  his  country.  It  was  currently  rumored  that  he  had  in 
fact  assembled  this  force  to  overthrow  Guerrera,  whom  he 
had  only  a  few  months  before  placed  in  the  presidency ;  but 
the  Spanish  invasion  gave  him  a  timely  pretense  to  turn  his 
revolutionary  designs  into  patriotic  purposes.  After  his 
military  success  against  the  Spaniards  he  retired  to  his  es- 
tate at  Jalapa,  but  renewed  or  continued  his  intrigues 
against  Guerrera.  But  Bustamente  beat  him  to  the  next 
revolution  and  made  himself  President  in  1829.  Naturally, 
and  very  promptly,  Santa  Anna  now  turned  his  attention 
and  his  designs  to  Bustamente,  for  he  was  perfectly  impar- 
tial in  his  plotting  and  consistently  contrived  against  all 
persons  in  power.  In  January,  1832,  he  declared  openly 

82 


ANTONIO  LOPEZ  DE  SANTA  ANNA 

against  the  government  of  Bustamente  and  led  the  revolu- 
tion which  culminated  in  this  year,  the  effects  of  which  were 
felt  throughout  Texas.  After  his  defeat  of  Bustamente 
in  December,  1832,  he  had  himself  elected  President  along 
with  Gomez  Farias,  Vice-President.  Instead  of  going  to  the 
capital  and  assuming  the  duties  of  the  Chief  Magistracy, 
this  strange,  intriguing  person  invested  Gomez  Farias,  the 
Vice-President,  with  supreme  power  and  again  retired  to  his 
estates  in  Jalapa  to  plot  against  his  own  administration. 
His  love  of  duplicity  and  intrigue  were  so  great  that  he 
relished  such  a  role  more  than  the  realization  of  supreme 
power.  Then,  too,  he  had  in  his  campaign  against  Busta- 
mente posed  as  champion  of  constitutional  government  and 
had  allowed  his  name  to  be  linked  with  a  desire  to  restore 
the  constitution  of  1824. 

This  he  had  no  notion  of  doing,  and  he  did  not  dare 
unmask  at  once  after  his  elevation.  Between  1832  and 
1834,  while  he  was  President  in  retirement,  he  actively  en- 
gaged in  several  campaigns  against  spasmodic  insurrections 
here  and  there,  always  keeping  the  control  of  such  military 
orgnaization  as  the  country  possessed.  In  1834  he  would  re- 
sume the  presidency,  but  though  he  were  the  lawful  Presi- 
dent and  had  the  right  to  leave  his  estate  and  come  into  the 
city  and  become  President,  yet  force  of  habit  was  so  strong 
with  him  that  he  preferred  to  do  so  through  the  medium  of 
a  revolution.  So  he  led  an  insurrection  against  his  Vice- 
President,  Gomez  Farias,  and  took  active  charge  of  the 
Government.  During  the  two  years  he  had  been  President 
in  retirement  he  had  allowed  all  the  odium  of  misgovern- 
ment  to  accumulate  against  Farias.  In  January,  1835,  he 
had  himself  declared  President  by  the  Mexican  Congress, 
but  almost  immediately  retired  to  his  Jalapa  plantation 
and  arranged  for  General  Barragan  to  act  as  Provisional 

83 


THE  FIRST  TEXAS  CONVENTION  OF  OCTOBER,  1832 

President.  He  probably  hoped  that  it  would  be  necessary 
to  hatch  a  plot  and  start  a  revolution  to  put  Barragan  out. 
From  his  estate  in  Jalapa  he  continued  to  arrange  a  plan 
by  which  he  would  at  the  right  time  become  absolute  ruler 
of  Mexico,  and  gradually,  but  thoroughly,  he  had  all  forms 
of  constitutional  government  abolished,  dismantled  the 
State  Governments  to  the  extent  that  the  Governors  were  to 
be  appointed  by,  and  dependent  upon,  him,  and  * '  scrapped ' ' 
the  constitution.  Some  of  the  State  Governments  resisted 
the  open  attempt  at  subversion  and  stood  out  against  him. 
Coahuila  was  one  of  the  last  to  fall.  All  hope  that  he  would 
protect  the  constitution  of  1824  was  now  gone,  the  mask 
was  off ;  and  in  1835  Texans  knew  that  the  hour  had  struck. 
This  was  the  man  whom  they  hailed  as  their  deliverer  in 
1832,  and  whom  they  faced  and  fought  as  a  tyrant  in 
1836. 

It  would  be  interesting  indeed  to  follow  the  forty  years 
of  his  career  after  the  Texas  Campaign;  but  this  is  the 
history  of  Mexico  for  four  decades. 

Whatever  else  may  be  said  of  him  we  must  concede  that 
he  was  a  most  remarkable  man. 


II. 


THE  FIRST  TEXAS  CONVENTION  OF  OCTOBER, 

1832. 

We  come  now  to  the  interesting  epoch  when  the  people 
of  Texas  first  began  to  assemble  in  convention  and  to  discuss 
the  common  weal.  The  mass  meeting  and  convention,  as 
these  institutions  had  developed  in  the  States,  had  become 

84 


THE  FIRST  TEXAS  CONVENTION  OF  OCTOBER,  1832 

a  powerful  medium  of  free  speech.  Such  institutions  were 
unknown  among  the  Latin  people.  In  Mexico  and  the  other 
Spanish-American  countries,  a  mass  meeting  where  men 
assemble  and  discuss  principles  without  coming  to  blows, 
was  unknown  and  impossible.  In  August,  1832,  Horatio 
Chrisman,  first  Alcalde  of  San  Felipe,  joined  John  Austin, 
the  second  Alcalde,  in  a  call  for  a  general  convention  of 
all  the  Colonies  of  Texas.  The  call  indicated  that  it  was  to 
discuss  the  misrepresentations  that  had  been  circulated  con- 
cerning the  purposes  of  Texas  in  driving  out  the  garrisons 
in  1832.  The  people  wanted  to  go  on  record  against  the 
rumor  that  Texas  sought  independence  and  to  give  some 
public  declaration  of  fealty  to  Mexico.  It  was  also  stated 
in  the  call  there  was  to  be  a  discussion  of  Indian  affairs. 
Fifty-six  delegates  from  sixteen  districts  assembled  at 
San  Felipe,  on  the  Brazos,  Bexar  alone  being  unrepresented. 
The  Mexican  population  of  San  Antonio  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  join  in  such  enterprise.  Austin  and  William  H. 
Wharton  were  nominated  to  preside  over  the  convention 
and  Austin  was  chosen  President.  The  delegates  came  all 
tfie  way  from  the  Sabine  to  Bastrop.  When  the  conven- 
tion assembled  it  was  discovered  that  there  was  a  well- 
divided  and  well-balanced  division  of  sentiment,  there 
being  a  radical  party  that  secretly  favored  independence 
though  they  openly  avowed  the  contrary,  and  a  very  con- 
servative party  that  did  not  favor  separation  from  Mexico. 
Austin  was  in  all  respects  the  soul  and  leader  of  the  con- 
servatives. The  Whartons  were  the  representatives  and 
leaders  of  the  more  radical  element. 

The  first  topic  which  came  up  for  discussion  was  the  de 
cree  of  1830,  which  prevented  the  further  settlement  of 
Americans  in  Texas.  This  had  been  the  severest  trial  to  the 
colonists  of  all  of  the  Mexican  decrees.  Though  it  had 


85 


THE  FIRST  TEXAS  CONVENTION  OF  OCTOBER,  1832 

been  generally  disregarded  and  people  from  the  States 
came  freely  during  the  period  from  1830  to  1832,  yet  the 
fact  that  they  were  denied  the  privilege  of  coming  and  ac- 
quiring a  status  of  citizenship  was  a  matter  of  grave 
concern  to  the  colonists.  A  committee  of  five  was  appointed 
to  prepare  a  memorial  to  the  Mexican  Republic  praying  for 
a  repeal  of  the  exclusion  law  and  to  set  forth  the  trials  and 
dangers  encountered  in  efforts  to  colonize  the  country,  and 
to  emphasize  the  respect  and  attachment  that  the  people 
bore  for  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  Republic. 

William  H.  Wharton  was  made  chairman  of  this  commit- 
tee and  wrote  its  report.  An  executive  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  draft  a  petition  for  the  reduction  of  the  duties 
on  necessities.  Another  committee  composed  of  Luke  Leas- 
sier,  William  McFarland,  William  Menefee,  Samuel  Bruff 
and  Thomas  Hastings  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  petition 
to  the  State  Government  for  a  donation  of  land  to  Texas 
for  the  creation  of  a  school  fund  for  the  maintenance  of 
primary  schools.  This  is  probably  the  first  legislation,  if 
it  may  be  so  called,  bearing  upon  the  topic  of  public  schools, 
that  was  ever  formulated  in  Texas.  But  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  this  is  the  first  public  representative  assemblage 
that  was  ever  held  in  Texas.  The  question  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  sat  in  this  convention  was  that  of 
separate  statehood  for  Texas.  It  was  discussed  informally, 
and  there  was  an  effort  made  to  keep  it  from  being  brought 
before  the  convention  because  there  were  those  who  foresaw 
that  a  move  in  this  direction  would  mean  trouble.  On  the 
third  day,  however,  it  was  presented  and  debated  with 
much  interest.  A  vote  of  36  to  12  was  registered  in  favor 
of  appointing  a  committee  of  two  from  each  municipality 
to  report  the  expediency  of  petitioning  for  a  State  Govern- 
ment. A  memorial  requesting  a  separate  State  Govern- 

86 


WILLIAM    H.    WHAETON 

First   Texas   Minister   to   the   United   States,   who   was   killed   by   the 
accidental  discharge  of  his  pistol  in  March,  1839. 


THE  FIRST  TEXAS  CONVENTION  OF  OCTOBER,  1832 

ment  was  prepared,  and  William  H.  Wharton  was  chosen 
messenger  to  present  it,  and  it  was  suggested  that  Juan 
Raphael  Monchola,  of  Goliad,  accompany  him.  It  was  nev- 
er, however,  formally  presented,  and  the  question  came  up 
again  in  1833,  and  again  in  1834,  when  Austin  went  to 
Mexico  to  present  such  memorial  and  was  imprisoned  for 
treason  for  having  done  so.  After  a  six-day  session  the 
convention  adjourned.  Before  doing  so,  however,  it  ap- 
pointed a  standing  central  committee  in  San  Felipe  which 
was  to  be  subordinate  to  the  local  committees  in  the  dis- 
tricts represented  in  the  convention.  F.  W.  Johnson,  whose 
name  is  indeed  conspicuous  during  the  revolutionary  period, 
was  made  chairman  of  this  central  committee  with  author- 
ity to  call  another  convention,  if  necessary.  The  memorial 
requesting  separate  statehood  was  couched  in  the  most 
respectful  and  genteel  terms;  its  language  was  selected  and 
guarded.  Yet  strange  it  may  seem,  not  only  the  Mexican 
authorities  but  the  Mexican  citizens  of  Texas  looked  upon 
this  simple,  respectful  petition  as  a  declaration  of  war  and 
as  treason  of  the  first  order.  The  political  chief  at  San  An- 
tonio, Don  Jose  de  La  Garza,  wrote  the  Governor  of  Coa- 
huila  referring  to  it  as  a  wide-spreading  insurrection,  and 
suggested,  "that  a  true  Mexican  could  but  bitterly  deplore 
his  misfortune  and  feel  sore  at  the  foreign  hand  that  had 
come  boldly  to  rob  him  of  his  rights,  employing  physical 
force  when  even  rational  arguments  from  such  a  scource 
ought  hardly  be  tolerated. ' '  No  clearer  glimpse  of  the  Mexi- 
can mind  can  be  shown  than  these  chance  expressions  found 
in  Garza 's  letter.  A  Mexican  could  not  understand  how  it 
were  possible  that  there  would  be  such  a  thing  as  a  law- 
ful loyal  assemblage  to  voice  public  sentiment.  Such  a  thing 
seemed  as  paradoxical  to  him  as  a  lawful  riot  or  a  peaceful 


87 


THE  CONVENTION  OF  1833 

fight.     To  him  all  such  meetings  were  per  se  treasonable 
and  revolutionary. 

The  central  committee  provided  by  this  convention  was 
the  first  State  Governmental  machinery  devised  in  Texas. 
Through  it  another  convention  was  called  the  following 
year. 


III. 
THE  CONVENTION  OF  1833. 

The  news  of  the  San  Felipe  Convention  of  1832  produced 
as  great  a  commotion  in  Mexican  political  circles  as  the 
Fredonian  Rebellion  had  done  six  years  before.  All  official 
Mexico  regarded  it  as  seditious  and  treasonable  that  the 
colonists  should  assemble  in  a  public  place  and  state  their 
grievances.  The  patriotic  utterances  found  in  the  journal 
of  the  convention  seemed  to  have  been  accepted  as  a  chal- 
lenge to  Mexican  sovereignty.  When  the  matter  was  called 
to  the  attention  of  Santa  Anna,  who  was  at  the  moment  in 
supreme  authority  in  Mexico,  he  wrote:  ''I  am  satisfied 
that  the  foreigners  who  have  intruded  themselves  into  the 
province  of  Texas  have  a  strong  tendency  to  declare  them-  ] 
selves  independent  of  the  republic,  and  their  remonstrances 
and  complaints  are  but  disguised  to  that  end."  He  sug- 
gested that  General  Filisola  be  sent  into  Texas  with  a  suffi- 
cient force  ' '  to  secure  the  integrity  of  our  territory. ' '  The 
Minister  of  State  wrote  the  political  chief  at  San  Antonio : 
4  Tour  Lordship  will  make  use  of  all  means  in  your  power 
to  cause  these  Texans  to  understand  that  such  excesses 
among  them  as  have  recently  come  to  light  must  inevitably 

88 


STEPHEN  F.  AUSTIN 

An    ivory    miniature    painted    by    Howard,    an    English    Artist,"  while 
Austin  was  in  Mexico  in  1833. 


THE  CONVENTION  OF  1833 

bring  ruin  upon  them."  In  the  meanwhile  the  colonists 
were  utterly  oblivious  to  the  storm  that  the  San  Felipe  Con- 
vention of  1832  had  produced  in  far  away  Mexico,  called 
and  planned  the  second  convention  of  all  Texas,  which  as- 
sembled at  San  Felipe  on  the  Brazos  in  1833.  The  central 
committee  which  had  been  constituted  by  the  convention 
the  year  before,  issued  the  call  in  January.  This  second 
convention  was  in  many  respects  a  repetition  of  the  first. 
About  the  same  number  of  delegates  attended.  Austin  and 
Wharton  were  again  candidates  for  the  presidency  or  chair- 
manship of  the  convention,  and  this  time  Wharton  was 
chosen,  showing  a  tendency  towards  a  more  radical  course. 
Sam  Houston  appeared  in  this  convention  as  a  delegate 
from  San  Augustine,  and  this  was  his  first  appearance  and 
participation  in  public  affairs  in  Texas.  The  conven- 
tion the  year  before  had  approached  the  question  of  separate 
statehood  delicately  and  declared  for  it,  and  pointed  out 
provisions  of  the  constitution  of  Coahuila  and  Texas  which 
had  been  adopted  in  1827,  which  justified  the  setting 
up  of  a  separate  State  Government  in  Texas.  These  pro- 
visions declared  that  as  soon  as  Texas  should  be  in  a  con- 
dition to  form  a  State  it  should  make  a  declaration  to  that 
effect  to  Congress  for  further  action.  The  Convention  of 
1832  and  the  one  of  1833  seemed,  therefore,  to  have  been 
following  this  constitutional  provision,  and  neither  did 
more  than  to  make  a  declaration  in  favor  of  separate  state- 
hood. The  Convention  of  1833  went  so  far  as  to  propose  a 
constitution  for  the  new  State.  Stephen  F.  Austin  and 
James  B.  Miller,  of  Gonzales,  and  Juan  Erasmus  Seguin, 
the  same  urbane  gentlemen  who  had  been  sent  twelve  years 
before  to  welcome  Austin  to  Texas,  were  appointed  messen- 
gers to  bear  this  petition  to  Mexico.  Austin  alone  went 
on  this  perilous  mission,  leaving  Texas  early  in  May,  1833. 

89 


THE  CONVENTION  OF  1833 

His  good  faith  and  the  good  faith  of  his  people  seemed 
sufficient  to  guarantee  the  integrity  of  his  enterprise.  The 
people  of  Texas  did  not  know  the  effect  that  these  con- 
ventions had  upon  the  Mexican  mind,  else  this  journey 
never  would  have  been  undertaken. 

The  most  interesting  thing  which  this  convention  did 
was  to  form  a  proposed  constitution  for  the  proposed  State. 

The  document  is  yet  in  existence  and  is  the  first  of  our 
many  constitutions.  It  contains  a  clause  declaring  that  no 
bank  shall  be  established  in  Texas  for  99  years.  It  is  said 
that  Dr.  Archer  proposed  a  plan  for  creation  of  a  State 
bank,  and  that  Sam  Houston  led  the  opposition  to  it.  This 
was  but  a  reflex  of  the  fight  that  had  been  raging  in  the 
States,  and  that  yet  raged  on  during  the  Jackson  Adminis- 
tration over  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 

We  all  know  that  Jackson 's  fight  on  the  bank  was  the  re- 
sult of  one  of  his  petty  prejudices  and  not  from  any  prin- 
ciple. But  it  became  a  conviction  with  him,  one  of  his  very 
articles  of  faith,  and  he  kept  on  with  the  fight  until  he 
destroyed  the  bank  and  the  credit  of  the  country,  and 
brought  on  our  first  real  financial  panic.  Houston  was  in 
all  things  a  devotee  and  follower  of  General  Jackson,  and 
on  his  first  opportunity  in  Texas  he  began  a  Jackson  fight 
on  the  phantom  bank  which  was  proposed  for  incorporation 
in  the  proposed  constitution.  His  arguments  against  the 
bank  prevailed,  and  it  was  outlawed  for  99  years.  As  long 
as  Houston  dominated  in  Texas  affairs,  there  was  no  bank- 
ing system,  nor  were  there  any  banks  in  Texas  until  long 
after  it  became  a  State  in  the  American  Union. 


90 


AUSTIN'S  SECOND  JOURNEY  TO  MEXICO,  IN  MAY,  1833 

IV. 

AUSTIN'S  SECOND  JOURNEY  TO  MEXICO,  IN 
MAY,  1833. 

Eleven  years  had  elapsed  since  Austin,  a  youth  only 
twenty-eight  years  old,  had  made  his  first  visit  to  Mexico 
and  had  gotten  a  confirmation  of  his  father's  colonial 
grant.  He  had  spent  these  years  between  in  unremitting 
toil  and  ha.d  seen  his  colonial  enterprise  prosper  and  flour- 
ish. It  was  against  his  judgment  that  he  undertook  the 
mission  thrust  upon  him  by  the  Convention  of  1833,  but  he 
knew  that  no  one  else  in  Texas  could  do  so  with  any  assur- 
ance of  success.  At  Matamoros  he  had  an  interview  with 
General  Filisola  and  was  reassured  by  that  gentleman,  who 
advised  Austin  that  he  was  about  to  re-establish  military 
garrisons  in  Texas  to  enforce  the  revenue  laws.  After 
this  conference,  Austin  wrote  back  to  Brazoria:  "I  have 
pledged  my  honor  that  Filisola  would  have  the  full  support 
of  Texas  in  sustaining  the  law,  and  I  have  full  confidence 
that  the  people  will  not  forget  my  pledge."  This  letter 
was  written  just  before  he  took  passage  for  Vera  Cruz  and 
he  assures  his  people  of  his  faith  in  the  Mexican  Govern- 
ment. He  reached  the  City  of  Mexico  in  June,  1833,  in  the 
midst  of  a  terrible  epidemic  of  cholera.  After  a  long  time 
he  was  able  to  present  the  memorial  of  the  San  Felipe 
Convention  of  1833  to  the  Mexican  Congress,  then  in  session, 
and  he  labored  through  the  whole  summer  in  an  effort  to 
get  some  recognition  of  the  plans  for  separate  statehood. 
He  did  succeed  in  getting  a  revocation  of  the  Decree  of 
1830  forbidding  further  emigration  from  the  States,  and 
when  we  understand  the  circumstances  it  is  marvelous  that 
he  accomplished  this  much.  He  continued  his  labors  until 


91 


AUSTIN'S  SECOND  JOURNEY  TO  MEXICO,  IN  MAY,  1833 

December  of  1833,  and  was  now  convinced  that  Santa  Anna 
was  at  heart  a  despot  and  that  Congress  would  deny  to  Texas 
a  separate  statehood.  He  had  not  received  the  warm  hand 
of  cordial  treatment  that  he  had  been  accorded  in  Mexi- 
can official  circles  on  his  former  visit  to  the  city.  He  found 
a  general  distrust  against  the  Texans,  and  especially  the 
people  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  He  then 
suspected  and  we  now  know,  that  this  was  in  part  brought 
about  by  the  conduct  of  the  American  Minister  to  Mexico. 
The  Adams  administration  had  sent  Joel  Poinsette  of  South 
Carolina  as  Minister  to  Mexico,  and  had  caused  him  to 
labor  unceasingly  for  the  purchase  of  Texas.  Although 
his  plan  of  procedure  was  not  always  commendable,  yet 
there  was  nothing  particularly  vicious  or  unseemly  about  it. 
But  with  the  incoming  of  the  Jackson  Administration  and 
the  spoils  system  of  public  office  which  General  Jackson  in- 
troduced, some  strange  personalities  got  into  power,  not 
only  in  Washington  but  everywhere  that  political  intrigue 
could  succeed  in  naming  an  office  seeker  to  place.  One 
Anthony  Butler  had  been  made  representative  to  Mexico, 
and  a  student  of  Mexican  and  American  history,  after  the 
lapse  of  nearly  a  hundred  years,  is  brought  to  blush  at  the 
infamy  of  this  individual.  He  intrigued  against  every 
Q-overnment  that  prevailed  in  Mexico  during  his  stay  there. 
He  intrigued  against  Texas  and  the  Texans,  and  he  helped 
circulate  false  rumors  about  Austin,  and  probably  con- 
tributed largely  to  the  failure  of  Austin's  mission,  and  to 
his  subsequent  imprisonment.  Shortly  before  leaving  the 
City  of  Mexico  for  his  return  home,  Austin  addressed  a  let- 
ter to  the  Ayuntemento  at  San  Antonio  urging  the  peo- 
ple of  that  jurisdiction  to  join  the  other  districts  of  Texas 
in  requesting  separate  statehood.  He,  no  doubt,  felt  that 
if  the  Mexican  population  of  San  Antonio  would  join  the 

92 


AUSTIN  IN  PRISON 

other  Colonies  in  such  a  request  that  it  would  have  weight ; 
and  he  also  felt  some  chagrin  that  the  San  Antonio  people 
withheld  their  influence  in  this  matter.  This  letter  con- 
tained an  expression  that  was  a  little  injudicious.  He 
wrote:  "All  the  municipalities  of  Texas  should  come 
without  delay  to  an  understanding  and  arrange  a  local 
Government  for  Texas  as  a  State  of  the  Mexican  Federation. 
Things  should  be  prepared  with  harmony,  thus  being  ready 
for  the  time  when  the  Congress  will  refuse  approval. ' '  He 
left  the  City  of  Mexico  December  10th.  This  letter  which 
he  had  dispatched  to  San  Antonio  in  October  was  promptly 
returned  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  as  soon  as  its  contents 
were  made  known  to  the  Government  officials  there,  orders 
were  issued  for  Austin's  arrest,  and  he  was  overtaken  at 
Saitillo  and  apprehended  and  carried  back  to  the  City  of 
Mexico  and  incarcerated  in  a  dungeon  which  had  been  left 
over  from  the  Spanish  Inquisition. 


V. 
AUSTIN  IN  PRISON. 

Austin  has  left  among  his  papers  a  diary  beginning  with 
the  day  he  left  the  City  of  Mexico,  on  December  10th,  and 
covering  a  large  part  of  the  time  that  he  was  in  prison.  He 
probably  wrote  his  diary  during  the  latter  part  of  his  im- 
prisonment, when  he  was  allowed  some  liberty  and  subjected 
to  less  scrutiny.  The  first  pages  indicate  that  they  may 
have  been  written  upon  the  dates  they  bear,  as  they  give 
no  intimation  of  his  impending  arrest.  He  left  the  City  of 
Mexico  traveling  in  a  coach  with  several  well  known  gentle- 


93 


AUSTIN  IN  PRISON 

men.  The  party  was  in  constant  apprehension  of  brigands 
and  went  well  armed.  On  December  16th  they  reached 
Quartero,  where  thirty  years  later  Maximilliam  met  his 
fate.  He  spent  the  day  there  and  visited  the  churches  and 
other  places  of  interest.  That  he  had  no  forewarning  of 
the  danger  that  awaited  him  seems  obvious  from  the  follow- 
ing taken  from  his  diary  covering  his  stay  in  Quar- 
tero: 

"16th  December. 

"We  remain  in  Quartero;  visited  convents.  There  are 
many  and  very  large.  One  has  a  large  fountain  constructed 
by  a  marquis  who  has  perpetuated  his  fame  and  piety  by  a 
statue  of  himself  of  his  own  size  which  stands  in  the  cen- 
ter of  the  fountain  on  the  base  of  stone.  There  are  exten- 
sive baths  convenient  to  this  fountain  constructed  by  this 
same  marquis.  One  wonders  how  much  sweat  and  tears 
from  the  Indian  slaves  it  cost  which  the  marquis  employed 
in  the  construction  of  this  fountain  and  baths,  but  he  re- 
ceived absolution  from  the  monks  and  went  to  heaven.  In 
the  orchard  there  are  many  pretty  cypress  trees.  I  col- 
lected seeds  from  them  to  carry  to  Texas.  They  showed 
me  some  of  these  trees  planted  by  the  hands  of  Rev.  Father 
Morfit,  who  had  been  a  monk  in  this  convent  and  was  at 
one  time  a  missionary  at  Nacogdoches,  in  Texas.  This 
mon5  is  very  famous,  for  he  has  been  a  second  Moses.  At 
Nacogdoches  all  the  springs  went  dry  and  he  went  out 
with  images  of  the  saints  and  necessary  apparatus  to  per- 
form miracles.  He  struck  a  blow  with  a  rod  of  iron  on  a 
rock  which  stands  on  the  bank  of  Lanana  Creek  in  Nacog- 
doches and  immediately  a  stream  of  water  gushed  out  suffi- 
cient to  supply  the  inhabitants  with  water  to  drink.  This 
miracle  was  canonized  in  Rome  and  a  print  of  engraving  of 
the  Father  was  made.  This  same  padre,  when  he  left  Nac- 

94 


AUSTIN  IN  PRISON 

ogdoches  for  Bexar,  lost  a  baggage  mule  which  a  tiger 
killed,  and  in  the  morning  as  soon  as  the  padre  knew  it  he 
made  the  tiger  come  and  kneel  at  his  feet  and  then  he 
was  harnessed  and  loaded  with  the  baggage  of  the  dead 
mule,  which  he  carried  to  Bexar,  and  then  having  received 
a  pardon  for  having  killed  the  mule  was  sent  back  to  the 
desert.  All  this  is  true  because  several  old  women  told  it 
to  me  in  Nacogdoches  and  in  Bexar  and  we  ought  never  to 
suppose  that  Rome  would  order  an  engraving  to  be  made  of 
the  .miracle  of  the  water  only  to  deceive  credulous  people. ' ' 

The  journal  continues  with  this  same  delightful  narra- 
tive until  his  arrival  at  Saltillo  on  February  3rd,  when  it 
contains  the  simple  memorandum : 

"On  the  third  day  I  was  arrested  by  General  Lemus  by 
orders  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  dated  in  Mexico,  De- 
cember 21st." 

Daily  entries  covered  the  return  to  the  City  of  Mexico. 

February  13th :  '  ''In  Mexico,  where  I  was  put  in  the  In- 
quisition, shut  up  in  the  dark  dungeon  I  am  not  allowed 
communication  with  anyone. ' ' 

"February  14th:  Heard  cannon  fire  during  the  day  in 
memory  of  Guerrera,  who  was  shot  on  this  day,  1831." 

The  entry  of  February  20th  is  interesting  and  has  since 
caused  much  comment :  "  Is  it  or  not  the  interest  of  Texas 
to  separate  herself  even  if  she  were  at  liberty  to  do  sof 
No,  certainly  not.  Is  it  or  not  the  interest  of  the  United 
States  of  the  North  to  acquire  Texas  ?  It  is  not,  because  she 
would  extend  her  territory  too  much.  And  what  is  worse? 
She  would  annex  a  large  district  which  would  have  no  in- 
terest in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  republic.  All  the 
rivers  of  Texas  take  their  rise  in  Texas  at  a  little  distance 
from  each  other  and  do  not  enter  the  territories  of  the 
north  so  as  to  form  bonds  of  union  as  does  the  River  Mis- 


95 


AUSTIN  IN  PRISON 

sissippi  in  Louisiana  and  other  States  adjacent.  There  is  no 
market  in  the  north  for  the  produce  of  Texas,  and  there 
is  in  Mexico.  Texas  is  more  distant  to  the  seat  of  Washing- 
ton than  from  the  City  of  Mexico.  As  regards  the  trade 
with  Europe,  the  Mexican  flag  is  equal  to  that  of  the  north. 
What  then  is  the  true  interest  of  Texas?  It  is  to  have 
local  Government,  to  cement  and  strengthen  its  union  with 
Mexico  instead  of  weakening  or  breaking  it.  What  Texas 
wants  is  an  organization  of  a  local  government,  and  it  is  of 
little  consequence  whether  it  be  a  part  of  Coahuila  or  a 
separate  State  or  Territory,  provided  the  organization  be  a 
suitable  one." 

Whether  Austin  expressed  his  real  sentiments  or  whether 
he  was  writing  this  for  the  eye  of  his  inquisitors  has  been 
a  matter  of  much  speculation,  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  he  meant  what  he  wrote,  for  I  do  not  think  that  he 
was  capable  of  duplicity  even  though  he  were  in  the  dun- 
geon of  the  Inquisition  facing  trial  for  treason. 

"February  26th.  What  a  horrible  punishment  is  soli- 
tary confinement,  shut  up  in  a  dungeon  with  scarcely  light 
enough  to  distinguish  anything!  If  I  were  a  criminal  it 
would  be  another  thing,  but  I  am  not  one.  I  have  been  en- 
snared and  precipitated,  but  my  intentions  were  pure  and 
correct. '  ' 

"February  23rd:  Philanthropy  is  but  another  name  of 
trouble.  I  have  labored  with  pure  intentions  to  benefit 
others,  and  especially  to  advance  and  improve  my  adopted 
country.  What  have  I  gained?  Enemies,  persecution,  im- 
prisonment, accused  of  ingratitude  to  Mexico,  which  is  one 
of  the  most  unjust  accusations  which  can  be  brought  against 
me." 

There  are  many  things  in  this  interesting  diary  which 
every  Texan  should  read.  Broken  in  health  from  the  ar- 


96 


EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-FOUR 

duous  labors  of  the  last  decade,  and  now  confined  in  this 
dark,  solitary  dungeon,  poor  Austin  indeed  had  a  right  to 
feel  that  his  philanthropy  was  the  cause  of  all  his  troubles. 


VI. 

EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-FOUR. 

There  was  no  convention  or  general  assembly  in  Texas 
this  year.  Austin 's  imprisonment  had  cast  a  gloom  over  the 
Colonies.  There  had  been  high  hopes  that  when  he  reached 
Mexico  bearing  the  worthy  memorials  of  the  San  Felipe 
Convention  of  1833,  that  the  difficulties  of  Texas  would 
find  solution. 

To  all  thoughtful  men  his  incarceration  was  the  last 
challenge,  but  both  popular  expression  and  open  action  were 
arrested  for  fear  that  any  action  or  outburst  in  Texas  would 
cost  Austin  his  life.  In  the  meantime  every  semblance 
of  State  Government  in  Texas  and  Coahuila  was  going  to 
pieces.  There  was  a  civil  war  raging  in  Coahuila  between 
two  factions,  one  declaring  that  Saltillo  was  the  capital  of 
the  State  and  the  other  holding  forth  at  Monclovia. 

Oliver  Jones  was  the  delegate  from  Texas  to  the  State 
Congress  or  Legislature,  and  in  September  he  wrote  from 
Monclovia  that  the  State  Government  was  gone  and  that 
anarchy  prevailed.  Though  Texas  had  no  State  Govern- 
ment, yet  the  people  of  the  Colonies  were  industrious  and 
orderly  and  the  local  Ayuntementos  in  the  different  dis- 
tricts furnished  a  substantial  local  government  for  the 
time  being.  The  year  before  the  State  had  been  divided 
into  the  departments  of  Brazos  and  Nacogdoches,  and  Henry 


97 


EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-FOUR 

Smith  of  Brazoria  had  been  named  political  chief  of  the 
Department  of  Brazos,  he  being  the  first  American  Honored 
with  such  an  appointment.  His  elevation  placed  him  in 
leadership  during  the  absence  of  Austin.  Upon  the  receipt 
of  Jones'  letter,  Smith  issued  a  long  address,  the  gist  of 
which  was,  that  since  there  was  no  State  Government  in 
Coahuila,  and  since  Texas  must  have  a  government,  there- 
fore it  should  take  the  initiative  and  organize  one.  He 
suggested  another  convention.  Henry  Smith  was  indeed  a 
worthy  patriot.  The  year  following  he  was  chosen  Provi- 
sional Governor  of  Texas,  and  the  portrait  of  the  old  fron- 
tiersman hangs  in  our  State  capitol  today  as  the  first  of 
the  American  Governors  of  Texas.  But  as-  a  political  leader 
in  troublesome  times,  he  was  a  sad  failure. 

The  people  of  Bexar  had  never  co-operated  with  the  other 
Colonies  in  any  movement  looking  to  the  common  good, 
but  there  were  some  splendid  men  among  the  Mexican  citi- 
zens there.  Seguin  wrote  Smith  this  year  suggesting  a 
convention  at  Bexar.  Since  this  was  the  first  time  that 
any  offer  of  co-operation  had  been  made  from  that  source, 
the  invitation  was  seized  upon,  and  there  was  for  a  time 
considerable  hope  that  a  convention  could  be  held  at  San 
Antonio  which  could  probably  find  avenues  of  access  to 
Mexican  political  life  not  open  from  San  Felipe.  The  peo- 
ple of  San  Antonio,  however,  did  not  act  upon  the  sug- 
gestion and  nothing  definite  came  of  it. 

In  the  meanwhile  Juan  Nepomuceno  Almonte,  a  bril- 
liant Mexican  officer  and  leader,  well  known  in  that  day 
and  generation,  visited  the  Colonies  as  the  representative 
of  Santa  Anna  and  assured  the  people  of  the  benevolence 
of  this  great  Republican  Chieftain.  Almonte  came  again  to 
Texas  in  1836  and  was  in  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto.  A  Mex- 
ican subaltern  who  afterwards  wrote  an  account  of  the  bat- 


98 


EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-FOUR 

tie,  says  that  when  he  reached  a  bayou  where  the  fleeing 
Mexican  soldiers  were  struggling  to  get  across,  that  he  saw 
Almonte  plunge  into  the  water  and  swim  across  holding  his 
sword  in  his  hand  above  the  water  as  though  to  keep  it 
dry.  A  few  days  following  the  battle,  a  Texas  lad  picked 
up  a  sword  on  the  bank  of  the  bayou  and  in  years  later 
a  son  of  this  boy,  then  a  very  old  man,  gave  me  the  sword, 
and  I  have  it.  It  may  be  Almonte's  sword,  but  it  may  not. 
At  the  time  of  his  first  visit  to  Texas  in  1834,  he  was  only 
thirty  years  old,  and  was  a  man  of  splendid  appearance  and 
address,  was  just  entering  upon  a  long,  stormy  career 
in  Mexican  political  life.  Almonte  was  the  natural  son  of 
the  Mexican  patriot  priest  Morelos,  who  started  a  revolu- 
tion for  independence  against  Spain  in  1811.  On  one  oc- 
casion when  there  was  grave  doubt  as  to  the  fidelity  of  his 
followers,  Morelos  appeared  before  a  mass  meeting  or  mob 
and  tried  to  make  an  address.  As  soon  as  he  came  and 
looked  into  the  faces  of  those  around  him,  he  saw  his  doom. 
Standing  at  a  distance  in  the  audience  he  saw  the  eager 
face  of  his  son,  for  whom  he  had  a  deep  affection.  Pointing 
to  the  youth  he  exclaimed  shrilly,  "Almonte,  Almonte "  (to 
the  mountain;  to  the  mountain).  He  was  warning  the 
lad  to  flee  for  his  life,  and  the  boy  made  his  escape.  And 
when  this  genial  gentleman  came  to  a  man's  estate  he  car- 
ried with  him  the  name  Almonte  with  which  he  was  thus 
tragically  christened.  When  Waddy  Thompson  was  Amer- 
ican Minister  to  Mexico  in  the  forties,  he  became  a  close 
friend  of  Almonte,  and  often  visited  in  his  home,  where  he 
saw  the  portrait  of  Morelos,  represented  in  the  uniform  of 
a  Mexican  General,  but  with  the  priest's  mitre  on  his  head. 
Almonte  was  active  in  Mexican  political  affairs  for  thirty 
years  and  went  down  with  the  ill  fated  Empire  in  the  late 
sixties.  While  he  was  in  Texas  in  1834,  Austin  was  in 

99 


THE  LAND  SCANDALS  OF  1835 

prison  in  Mexico,  and  he  promised  his  assistance  for  his 
liberation  upon  his  return,  and  it  is  said  he  made  His  prom- 
ise good. 

On  October  5,  1834,  Santa  Anna  called  a  council  ,to  dis- 
cuss the  state  of  affairs  in  Texas.  Among  those  present 
were  Lorenza  de  Zavala,  then  high  in  Mexican  official  cir- 
cles and  about  to  be  sent  as  Minister  to  France,  and  they 
brought  Austin  out  of  prison  to  sit  in  this  council.  Santa 
Anna,  with  his  usual  urbanity,  treated  Austin  with  great 
consideration,  and  Texas'  affairs  were  discussed  with  con- 
siderable freedom.  It  was,  however,  decided  that  Texas 
should  remain  attached  to  Coahuila,  and  Austin  was  sent 
back  to  prison.  It  was  also  decided  at  this  conference  to 
send  a  garrison  of  four  thousand  troops  to  Texas  to  keep 
away  the  Indians.  The  end  of  this  year  found  Texas  with- 
out a  government  and  Austin  yet  in  prison. 


VII. 
THE  LAND  SCANDALS  OF  1835. 

The  year  1835  was  an  unhappy  and  turbulent  one  in 
Texas.  Austin  was  still  in  prison.  By  midsummer  all  sem- 
blance of  Mexican  authority  had  disappeared  from  the 
Colonies.  The  State  Government  down  in  Coahuila  hacl 
been  torn  into  rival  factions  openly  at  war  with  each  other, 
and  this  furnished  some  pretext  for  Santa  Anna's  inter- 
vention. Before  the  State  Legislature  was  entirely  sup- 
pressed, it  loaned  itself  to  a  series  of  land  acts  which  were 
tEe  legislative  scandal  of  those  days,  and  which  have  come 

100 


THE  LAND  SCANDALS  OF  1835 

down  to  us  with  a  forbidding  odor  even  after  nearly  one 
hundred  years. 

We  find  in  these  "land  grabbing"  enterprises  the  names 
of  some  of  our  most  sterling  patriots.  It  is  a  story  as  old  as 
Egypt,  for: 

"Who  can  doubt  the  secret  hid 
Under   Cheops   pyramid, 
Is  that  the  contractor  did 
Cheops  out  of  several  million?" 

Land  speculation  was  rife  in  those  days  and  the  millions 
of  acres  of  open  domain  which  lay  unclaimed  was  a  tempta- 
tion which  would  have  mislead  any  generation  of  our  an- 
cestors and  which  might  even  tempt  us  today.  But  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  acquisition  of  real  estate  has 
ever  been  one  of  the  strong  characteristics  of  our  tribe. 
There  is  a  story  of  how  two  itinerant  Saxon  Chiefs  came 
to  North  England  centuries  ago  and  bought  an  oxhide  of 
earth,  and  how  they  cut  the  oxhide  in  strips  and  in  the 
rainy  season  stretched  it  around  what  is  now  a  large  parr 
of  an  English  shire. 

Well,  the  oxhide  trick  was  worked  overtime  down  at 
Monclovia  in  1834  and  1835. 

In  the  colonization  law  of  1825,  there  was  a  provision 
which  was  construed  to  give  the  State  Government  authority 
to  sell  land  to  Mexicans  upon  such  terms  as  it  might  see 
fit,  as  much  as  eleven  leagues  of  land  in  a  single  grant. 
Eleven  leagues  of  land — how  that  term  sounds  to  us  who 
Have  seen  a  city  lot  sell  for  five  hundred  dollars  a  front  foot, 
or  a  single  oil  acre  for  tens  of  thousands.  Eleven  leagues 
of  land;  this  is  nearly  fifty  thousand  English  acres.  Enter- 
prising Mexicans  were  not  long  in  learning  of  this  privilege, 
and  soon  after  its  passage,  one  Juan  Antonio  Padilla  pro- 

101 


THE  LAND  SCANDALS  OF  1835 

cured  the  first  grant,  which  was  located  in  1828.  There 
were  numerous  grants  which  sold  for  as  low  as  $100.00 
per  league.  In  1830,  the  patriot  James  Bowie,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  the  inventor  and  a  skillful  operator  of  the 
knife  which  bears  his  name,  journeyed  down  to  Saltillo 
and  induced  various  Mexicans  residing  there  to  apply  for 
eleven  league  grants,  and  when  they  had  been  made  Bowie 
purchased  the  certificates  and  they  were  trafficked  about  and 
locations  were  made  under  them.  These  transactions  much 
disturbed  many  of  the  Colonies,  for  the  locations  under 
these  large  grants  bearing  Mexican  names  often  conflicted 
with  the  little  land  holdings  of  a  stockman  farmer  who  only 
had  a  petty  league  and  labor. 

They  threatened  to  hinder  Ben  Milam  's  Red  River  Colony 
in  a  serious  way,  and  he  undertook  a  trip  to  Mexico  in  1834 
to  protest  against  them,  and  was  returning  from  that  long 
perilous  journey  in  '35  when  he  joined  the  patriot  army 
on  its  way  to  Bexar.  In  the  troubled  days  of  1834  and  '5, 
when  the  State  Government  of  Coahuila  was  in  confusion, 
there  were  a  series  of  these  acts  which  reflect  no  credit 
upon  the  times. 

In  1834,  an  act  was  passed  designed  to  grant  a  bounty 
to  soldiers  who  would  enlist  for  service  against  the  Indians, 
and  under  this  act  Samuel  M.  Williams,  Robert  Peeples 
and  F.  W.  Johnson  obtained  a  grant  for  one  hundred 
leagues.  The  last  Legislature  which  met  in  '35  was  un- 
usually active  in  this  regard.  An  act  was  passed  on  March 
14th,  which  gave  the  Governor  authority  in  the  ''present 
emergency"  to  dispose  of  lands  about  as  he  saw  fit,  and 
under  it,  certificates  for  about  400  leagues  were  issued. 

S.  M.  Williams  and  John  Durst  got  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four  of  these  certificates  which  they  resold.  The  last 
of  these  land  statutes  were  passed  in  April,  1835,  just  before 

102 


THE  LAND  SCANDALS  OF  1835 

Cos'  army  reached  Monclovia  on  its  march  north  for  Texas 
via  Coahuila.  It  was  known  that  the  army  was  approaching 
with  authority  to  suppress  the  Legislature,  and  in  its  dy- 
ing hours  on  April  7th,  it  passed  a  final  enactment  which 
gave  the  Governor  yet  more  authority  to  sell  land. 

Doctor  James  Grant,  who  perished  in  the  Revolution 
only  a  few  months  later,  came  away  with  certificates  for 
100  leagues  which  he  sold  and  after  his  death  his  estate 
listed  unlocated  and  unsold  certificates  for  300  leagues.  As 
Cos'  army  approached  there  was  a  wild  exodus  of  legis- 
lators and  land  speculators. 

Governor  Viesca  decided  to  cast  his  lot  with  the  Texans 
and  left  for  the  Rio  Grande  along  with  a  company  of  Texans 
who  rode  out  of  Monclovia  just  before  the  Mexican  army 
rode  in. 

These  land  transactions  were  seized  upon  by  Santa  Anna 
as  a  cause  for  his  attitude  towards  the  State  Government 
of  Coahuila  and  the  Texans.  It  was  declaimed  that  a  cor- 
rupt Mexican  Legislature  connived  with  a  worse  coterie  of 
Texans  in  schemes  to  exploit  the  public  domain,  and  that 
severe  military  measures  were  necessary  to  prevent  these 
wholesale  frauds.  Hence  these  land  speculations  are  often 
given  as  one  of  the  causes  of  the  Revolution,  though  in 
fact  we  know  they  were  an  incident  rather  than  a  cause. 
But  nowhere  were  they  more  severely  condemned  than  in 
Texas.  Almost  every  public  gathering  during  1834  and  '35 
denounced  them  in  terrible  terms.  The  Provisional  Govern- 
ment organized  at  San  Felipe  in  the  autumn  of  1835, 
closed  the  land  office  until  affairs  should  become  more  set- 
tled. The  Congress  of  the  Republic  in  1840  conducted  a 
thorough  investigation  of  these  so-called  land  frauds,  and 
a  vast  amount  of  information  was  gathered  and  much  of  it 
written  in  the  legislative  journals. 


103 


GONZALES 

But  for  the  most  part  those  whose  names  were  connected 
with  these  ventures,  earned  absolution  in  the  Revolution. 

Bowie  fell  at  the  Alamo,  Grant  at  Refugio. 

Frank  Johnson  was  in  the  siege  of  Bexar.  They  were 
not  bad  men  merely  because  they  coveted  land  in  large 
quantities. 

"  Their  bones  are  dust, 
Their  good  swords  rust, 
Their  souls  are  with  the  saints, 
We    trust." 


VIII. 
GONZALES. 

After  reducing  the  State  Government  in  Coahuila  Gen- 
eral Cos  came  on  to  Bexar  with  a  considerable  army,  where 
he  stationed  himself  among  fairly  congenial  Mexican  pop- 
ulation. Through  the  military  authorities  there,  an  order 
was  issued  for  the  arrest  of  some  of  the  more  outspoken  men 
in  the  Colonies  for  seditious  utterances.  R.  M.  Williamson 
(three-legged  Willie),  had  made  a  very  patriotic  4th  of  July 
address  which  was  considered  treasonable.  Colonel  Travis 
had  lead  a  small  force  which  had  forcibly  expelled  the 
Mexican  garrison  at  Anahuac  in  July.  Lorenza  De  Zavala 
had  fled  from  Mexico  and  taken  up  his  residence  on 
Buffalo  Bayou  below  Harrisburg.  These  men  and  others 
were  to  be  arrested  and  sent  to  Mexico  for  trial.  Some  let- 
ters which  were  sent  from  Cos  to  Colonel  Ugartechea  told 
of  active  plans  to  punish  the  Colonies,  and  all  was  at  white 
heat  as  the  early  autumn  approached.  A  general  consulta- 
tion was  called  to  meet  at  San  Felipe  in  October.  The 

104 


GONZALES 

militia  was  being  organized  everywhere,  and  no  man  now 
doubted  that  war  to  the  death  was  inevitable.  Amid  these 
stirring  scenes  so  full  of  apprehensions  when  the  convention 
was  about  to  assemble  and  men  were  everywhere  leaving 
their  homes  for  military  service,  a  tremendous  comet  sud- 
denly appeared  and  filled  the  evening  skies  with  a  wierd, 
sinister  light. 

In  the  lonely  plantation  homes  where  the  husband  and 
father  was  away  in  the  gathering  army  this  strange  astral 
wanderer  left  a  feeling  of  terror  and  awe  which  was  daily 
augmented  by  the  wildest  rumors  of  Mexican  invasion  and 
Indian  uprisings. 

The  storm  broke  down  at  Gonzales  in  October,  when 
Colonel  Ugartechea,  the  same  who  was  driven  out  of 
Velasco  in  1832,  came  with  a  small  detachment  of  men  to 
take  away  a  cannon  which  the  Government  had  furnished 
the  settlement  some  years  before  for  defense  against  the 
Indians.  Anticipating  this  attempt  several  hundred  Texans 
nad  hurriedly  gathered,  and  the  first  skirmish,  sometimes 
called  our  Lexington,  resulted  in  the  very  hurried  return 
of  the  Mexicans  to  Bexar  without  the  cannon. 

There  were  stirring  scenes  on  the  Guadaloupe  in  these 
October  days.  Colonel  John  H.  Moore  with  a  company  of 
men  from  LaGrange  was  among  the  first  to  arrive.  Fannin 
was  there  with  the  Brazoria  guards.  R.  M.  Coleman  was 
there  with  men  from  Bastrop.  A  small  detachment  from 
the  Colorado  under  Thomas  Alley  were  the  first  to  come. 
Austin,  who  had  been  released  from  prison  a  few  months 
before,  had  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos  in  September, 
and  had  ridden  by  San  Felipe,  thence  on  to  Gonzales,  where 
he  arrived  on  October  10th. 

The  two  Whartons,  Wm.  J.  Russell  and  Wm.  H.  Jack 
came  across  from  Brazoria. 


105 


GONZALES 

Years  later  Russell  told  of  an  interesting  incident  he 
witnessed  between  Austin  and  Wm.  H.  Wharton.  They 
had  been  estranged  and  for  some  years  were  not  on  speak- 
ing terms.  Wharton  had  been  a  bitter  critic  of  Austin  and 
had  attacked  his  pacific  policies  in  public  print. 

When  Russell  and  Wharton  reached  the  log  house  in 
Gonzales  where  they  were  to  spend  the  night,  they  were 
told  that  Colonel  Austin  had  preceded  them  a  few  hours 
and  was  in  the  next  room.  Russell,  with  Wharton 's  permis- 
sion, went  in  to  speak  with  Austin  and  offer  reconcilia- 
tion. 

He  says  that  when  he  entered  the  room  Austin  was  lying 
on  a  blanket  utterly  exhausted  from  a  long  day's  ride  in 
the  rain,  that  his  thin,  pale  face  showed  ghastly  in  the  faint 
light  of  a  candle  by  which  he  was  writing. 

The  buoyant  boy  who  fourteen  years  before  had  ridden 
to  Bexar  to  begin  his  Colonial  enterprise  was  at  forty-one  a 
broken,  dying  man. 

When  Russell  addressed  him  he  was  glad  to  forget  all  dif- 
ferences and  in  almost  sepulchral  voice  bemoaned  the  plight 
of  "poor  Texas." 

The  next  day  they  chose  him  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
"Federal  Army."  When  he  was  returning  to  Texas  from 
his  first  visit  to  Mexico  in  1823,  the  military  commandant 
at  Monterey  had  commissioned  him  a  Lieutenant  Colonel  so 
that  during  the  colonial  days  he  had  been  Colonel  Austin. 

He  was  now  General  Austin,  with  an  army  of  600  men, 
and  the  first  order  he  issued  on  the  day  of  his  election  was 
to  cross  the  Guadaloupe  and  on  to  Bexar. 

The  most  interesting  picture  of  these  Gonzales  days  that 
has  come  to  us  is  found  in  the  delightful  narrative  of  Noah 
Smithwick,  a  young  man  who  was  one  of  these  volunteers, 
and  marched  with  them  to  San  Antonio.  Sixty  years  later 

106 


GONZALES 

the  old  man  dictated  his  recollections  to  his  daughter,  who 
wrote  in  pleasing  style,  and  they  have  given  the  most  inter- 
esting sketch  of  that  period  which  has  come  down  to  us. 

The  remainder  of  this  article  is  literally  quoted  from 
Smithwick  's  recollections : 

* '  Colonel  Milam  joined  us  at  Gonzales.  He  had  recently 
escaped  a  Mexican  prison  and  his  wardrobe  was  much 
depleted.  He  was  more  than  six  feet  and  his  pantaloons 
and  sleeves  were  far  too  short  for  his  stature.  Buckskin 
breeches  were  the  nearest  approach  to  uniform,  and  they 
were  of  every  variety  and  complexion — some  too  short, 
others  too  long.  Here  a  broad  brimmed  sombrero  over- 
shadowed a  military  cap  and  a  tall  bee  gum  would  ride 
along  with  a  coonskin  cap  with  tail  hanging  down  behind  as 
all  well  regulated  tails  should  do.  Here  a  big  American 
horse  loomed  above  a  Spanish  pony  or  a  skittish  mustang 
pranced  along  with  a  methodical  mule.  Here  a  bulky  roll 
of  quilts  jostled  a  bundle  of  blankets  or  more  apt  a  buffalo 
robe,  or  a  gaudy  counterpane  woven  by  tender  hands  with 
no  shadow  of  presentiment  that  it  should  be  a  winding 
sheet. 

' '  In  lieu  of  canteens  each  soldier  carried  a  Spanish  gourd. 
So  with  the  old  cannon  flag  flying  and  the  artillery  (the 
one  cannon)  mounted  on  a  wooden  wheeled  wagon  driven 
by  teams  of  oxen,  we  filed  out  of  Gonzales  and  took  up  our 
march  on  to  San  Antonio.  At  the  Cibola  Creek,  Sam  Hous- 
ton came  up  with  us.  It  was  my  first  sight  of  him.  I  have 
a  vivid  picture  of  him  now  as  he  rode  into  our  camp  alone 
mounted  on  a  small  yellow  Spanish  stallion,  his  feet  almost 
touching  the  ground.  He  almost  immediately  returned  to 
San  Felipe  to  attend  the  convention. ' ' 

And  now  we  must  leave  the  buckskin  army  on  its  way  to 

107 


THE  CONSULTATION 

Bexar  and  foregather  with  those  who  sat  in  the  consulta- 
tion. 


IX. 
THE  CONSULTATION. 

In  the  midsummer  of  1835,  the  local  committee  of  safety 
at  San  Felipe  had  proposed  that  each  jurisdiction  through- 
out Texas  send  one  member  to  San  Felipe,  and  that  these 
members  compose  a  temporary  committee  of  safety  pend- 
ing the  general  convention  which  was  to  assemble  in  the 
autumn.  This  suggestion  was  acted  upon,  and  E.  R.  Royal 
of  Matagorda  was  chosen  to  preside  over  this  council.  It 
acted  as  a  kind  of  clearing  house  for  revolutionary  activi- 
ties and  was  the  nearest  approach  to  a  governmental  body 
which  prevailed  in  the  interim. 

When  the  consultation  met  and  was  organized,  the  Gen- 
eral Council,  as  the  Central  Committee  was  called,  wound 
up  its  affairs  and  made  a  final  report  to  the  convention, 
which  assumed  governmental  functions. 

It  met  on  October  15th,  but  was  adjourned  from  day  to 
day  to  November  1st,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  delegations. 
R.  R.  Royal  called  the  convention  to  order,  and  on  motion 
of  Sam  Houston,  of  Nacogdoches,  Doctor  Branch  T.  Archer 
was  chosen  to  preside. 

It  fell  his  lot  to  make  what  we  now  call  the  keynote 
speech,  which  he  did  without  unnecessary  rhetoric.  His 
address  is  copied  in  the  journal  of  the  Consultation,  and 
one  reading  it  now  after  the  lapse  of  years  is  impressed  with 
it's  calm  dignity.  He  recommended, 

108 


THE  CONSULTATION 

(a)  A  declaration  of  causes. 

(b)  The  organization  of  a  provisional  Government. 

(c)  A  military  organization. 

(d)  A  conciliatory  arrangement  with  the  Indians. 

(e)  That  the  recent  fraudulent  land  grants  be  looked 
into. 

The  first  brisk  discussion  arose  over  the  declaration  of 
causes.  The  convention  was  much  divided  as  to  whether 
there  should  be  a  declaration  of  fealty  to  the  Mexican  con- 
stitution of  1824,  and  a  last  final  effort  to  maintain  rela- 
tions with  the  Republic,  or  a  declaration  of  independence. 

John  Austin  Wharton,  delegate  from  Brazoria,  lod  the 
fight  'for  an  immediate  declaration  of  independence,  but 
Sam  Houston  and  other  older  men  urged  a  last  stand  for 
the  Federal  constitution.  Austin  favored  this  course. 
There  was  a  hope  among  the  Texans  even  at  this  late  hour, 
that  there  would  be  a  faction  in  Mexico  opposed  to  Santa 
Anna's  usurpations,  who  would  join  Texas  in  a  fight  to 
preserve  the  constitution,  and  to  this  more  than  any  other 
influence  the  convention  yielded  in  the  last  sad  effort  to 
uphold  the  Mexican  constitution  after  every  Mexican  State 
had  succumbed. 

Texas  was  soon  undeceived  in  this  vain  hope,  and  when 
the  next  convention  met  in  the  following  March,  a  declara- 
tion of  independence  was  adopted  at  the  opening  hour  and 
after  that  they  proceeded  to  other  business.  In  many  re- 
spects the  Consultation  of  1835  was  the  most  interesting 
convention  which  ever  assembled  in  Texas.  It  was  the 
third  All  Texas  Convention  that  had  met  at  San  Felipe 
and  the  last,  for  the  one  in  March  met  at  Washington,  on 
the  Brazos. 

A  plan  for  a  provisional  government  was  made  with 
great  care  and  it  provided  for  a  Governor,  a  Lieutenant- 


109 


THE  CONSULTATION 

Governor  and  a  General  Council  with  a  member  from  each 
municipality.  The  names  of  Henry  Smith  and  Austin  were 
placed  before  the  convention  for  Governor.  Smith  was 
chosen,  for  it  was  designed  to  send  Austin  as  a  commission- 
er to  the  United  States.  James  W.  Robinson,  of  Nacogdo- 
ches,  was  made  Lieutenant-Governor.  Article  14  of  the 
Plan  for  Provisional  Government  closed  the  land  office 
"  during  the  unsettled  and  agitated  condition  of  the  coun- 
try/' so  that  no  land  grants  could  be  made,  and  none  were 
made  until  after  the  organization  of  the  Republic  in  1836. 

Among  the  many  worthy  things  done  in  this  year,  none 
speaks  louder  in  the  commendation  of  that  generation  of 
men  tHan  this  precautionary  act  of  closing -the  land  office 
to  protect  the  public  domain. 

The  new  Government  was  without  money  or  credit,  and 
its  land  was  the  only  possible  source  of  revenue,  and  though 
they  were  in  a  death  struggle  and  knew  not  where  financial 
support  was  to  be  had,  they  placed  the  public  domain  in 
safe  keeping  for  their  children.  How  nobly  they  discharged 
this  trust  should  ever  be  told  to  their  praise. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  a  wild  scheme  was  proposed  to 
found  the  Bank  of  Texas  upon  the  credit  of  the  school  fund 
which  came  from  this  domain,  but  the  hallowed  memory 
of  the  fathers  who  kept  it  intact  in  the  dark  hours  of  the 
revolution  frustrated  the  design. 

Stephen  F.  Austin,  William  H.  Wharton  and  Doctor 
Branch  T.  Archer  were  chosen  commissioners  to  the  United 
States  and  urged  to  proceed  there  at  once  and  use  every 
means  to  arouse  sympathy  and  procure  assistance  in  the 
States. 

The  convention  adjourned  on  November  14th,  but  issued 
a  call  for  another  to  meet  at  Washington,  on  the  Brazos, 
on  March  1,  1836.  The  difficulties  which  confronted  the 


110 


THE  SIEGE  OF  BEXAR 

new  Government  are  aptly  stated  in  a  single  sentence  of 
Governor  Smith's  first  message  to  the  Council  on  Novem- 
ber 16th : 

1 '  We  have  to  call  system  out  of  chaos,  to  start  the  wheels 
of  governments  clogged  by  discordant  interests.  Without 
funds,  without  munitions  of  war,  with  an  army  in  the 
field  contending  against  a  powerful  foe,  these  are  the  aus- 
pices under  which  we  are  forced  to  make  a  beginning. ' ' 

In  the  meantime  while  the  Consultation  deliberated  and 
the  General  Council  sat,  the  Federal  army,  as  General  Aus- 
tin called  it,  was  investing  Bexar. 


X. 
THE  SIEGE  OF  BEXAR. 

The  patriot  army  reached  the  suburbs  of  San  Antonio 
in  the  last  days  of  October,  1835.  There  were  at  that  time 
about  seven  hundred  men  in  the  command.  Austin  divided 
them  in  two  divisions,  one  of  which  was  stationed  below  the 
city  in  the  command  of  James  Bowie,  the  other  up  the 
river  under  Edward  Burleson. 

There  was  much  division  of  opinion  as  to  whether  the 
city  should  be  stormed,  and  one  studying  the  military  tac- 
tics of  the  campaign  is  impressed  with  the  entire  want  of 
discipline  or  vigorous  command.  Austin's  health  was  bad 
and  he  had  no  military  experience.  While  he  was  neither 
lacking  in  courage  or  firmness,  yet  he  was  by  no  means  an 
ideal  commander.  Then,  too,  the  volunteer  army  was  an  im- 
promptu affair.  Many  of  the  men  had  left  their  families 
on  exposed  frontiers  and  would  go  home  the  first  opportun- 

111 


THE  SIEGE  OF  BEXAR 

ity.  The  whole  army  was  in  a  fair  way  to  have  disbandoned 
and  gone  home,  but  was  much  encouraged  by  the  arrival  of 
the  New  Orleans  Grays  on  November  21st.  Though  there 
were  only  sixty-four  men  in  the  company,  yet  it  was  the 
first  installment  of  the  effective  help  which  came  from  the 
States  to  take  part  in  the  Eevolution.  Their  arrival  marks 
such  an  important  and  interesting  chapter  in  our  affairs 
that  1  feel  justified  in  copying  a  page  from  the  interesting 
history  of  John  Henry  Brown  describing  the  event : 

f'Late  in  the  afternoon  of  November  21st,  the  New  Or- 
leans Grays,  afterwards  so  distinguished  for  gallantry,  the 
first  to  join  the  standard  of  Texas  from  the  United  States, 
arrived  in  the  vicinity,  and  on  the  22nd,  reported  themselves 
for  duty.  They  numbered  sixty-four  men  and  had  sailed 
from  New  Orleans  in  October  on  the  schooner  'Columbus' 
for  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos  with  a  supply  of  provisions  and 
military  stores  contributed  by  the  people  of  New  Orleans. 
They  were  received  with  great  enthusiasm  at  Velasco  and 
Quintana,  where  ladies  waved  their  handkerchiefs  and  men 
fired  artillery.  At  Brazoria  they  were  received  with  a  yet 
more  intense  enthusiasm — flowers  were  strewn  along  their 
line  of  march  and  they  were  entertained  there  by  Mrs. 
Jane  H.  Long,  widow  of  General  Long,  often  called  the 
Mother  of  Texas.  From  Brazoria  they  marched  on  foot  all 
of  the  way  to  San  Antonio,  stopping  for  a  day  at  Victoria. 
Of  all  the  companies  which  come  out  from  the  States, 
they  stand  out  preeminently.  Many  of  them  were  mur- 
dered with  Fannin  's  men  four  months  later. ' ' 

On  November  24th,  Austin  and  William  H.  Whartou 
left  the  army  to  accept  the  mission  to  the  United  States  to 
which  they  had  been  chosen  by  the  Consultation  a  few  days 
before.  The  army  balloted  for  a  Commander-in-Chief  to 
take  Austin's  place,  and  Colonel  Edward  Burleson  was 


112 


THE  SIEGE  OF  BEXAR 

chosen.  Burleson  was  not  a  great  commander,  but  he  was 
a  great  fighter,  and  was  long  identified  with  Texas,  and  a 
glimpse  of  his  eventful  life  will  be  interesting  to  this  gener- 
ation, for  the  name  of  Burleson  has  been  an  honored  one 
in  Texas  history.  He  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1798 
and  lived  on  the  frontier  all  his  long  life.  His  grandfather 
and  an  uncle  were  killed  by  Indians  in  Eastern  Tennessee, 
and  an  aunt  was  shot,  tomahawked  and  scalped  in  the  Wild 
West  where  the  City  of  Nashville  now  stands. 

The  following  interesting  episode  is  told  of  him  by  his 
kinsman,  the  late  Doctor  Rufus  C.  Burleson:  "When 
Edward  was  fourteen  years  old,  he  accompanied  his  father 
on  an  expedition  into  Alabama  in  pursuit  of  a  roving  band 
of  Cherokees.  The  party  was  commanded  by  Jonathan 
Burleson,  his  uncle.  The  Indians  planned  to  deceive  their 
pursuers  into  a  pow  wow  and  massacre  them,  and  each  war- 
rior concealed  a  knife  under  his  garments  ready  for  this 
wholesale  homicide.  As  Burleson 's  men  approached,  they 
were  met  by  an  Indian  warrior  with  an  invitation  to  drink, 
which  was  the  highest  hospitality.  The  Captain  reached 
out  to  take  the  proffered  hand,  when  the  Indian,  quick  as  a 
flash,  drew  his  knife  and  made  a  lunge  at  Captain  Burle- 
son, who  sprang  away  and  escaped  injury.  The  Indian  and 
the  white  man  stood  face  to  face,  but  the  troopers  could 
not  fire  for  fear  of  hitting  their  Captain.  It  was  a  tragic 
moment  when  an  instant  meant  eternity  for  some  one.  The 
boy  was  quicker  to  think  and  act  than  any  of  them  and 
sprang  forward  firing  as  he  did  so  and  the  Indian  lay 
dead.  The  lad  accompanied  his  father  through  the  Tecum- 
seh  wars  and  was  at  the  battle  of  Horseshoe  Bend,  where 
Houston  won  a  wound  which  he  carried  all  his  life. ' ' 

In  1826  he  came  to  Texas  and  settled  on  the  Colorado 


113 


BEN  MlLAM   AND    THE    FALL    OF    BfiXAR 

just  below  Bastrop,  which  for  thirty  years  was  the  most 
dangerous  of  Texas  frontiers. 

He  was  at  the  Battle  of  San  Jacinto  ,  and  lived  for  many 
years  after  these  stirring  days,  and  served  one  term  as 
Vice-P resident  of  the  Republic.  Doctor  Burleson  was  at  his 
death  bed  when  the  old  frontiersman  had  his  summons,  and 
relates  his  last  conversation :  '  *  My  life  has  been  a  rude  one, 
and  I  have  been  a  man  of  blood  from  my  boyhood,  but  I 
have  never  fought  for  revenge.  I  have  been  in  thirty-two 
battles  but  have  lived  to  this  old  age  and  go  now  to  meet  my 
Maker."  Burleson  was  chosen  commander  on  the  14th  of 
November,  and  on  the  4th  of  December  an  attack  was  be- 
gun which  resulted  in  the  capture  of  San  Antonio  after 
three  days  assault.  But  the  world  will  always  give  the 
chief  credit  for  this  victory  to  Ben  Milam,  who  lead  the 
attack  and  fell  in  the  fight. 


XI. 
BEN  MILAM  AND  THE  FALL  OF  BEXAR. 

It  may  be  an  exaggeration  to  ascribe  to  a  single  man  the 
victory  won  by  thousands,  but  we  have  come  to  link  the 
name  of  the  successful  commander  or  bold  leader  with  the 
battle  won  so  that  their  names  become  synonyms. 

Houston  has  so  thoroughly  monopolized  the  fame  of 
San  Jacinto  that  for  years  while  he  was  in  the  United 
States  Senate  he  was  called  "Old  Sam  Jacinto." 

And  so  it  will  be,  as  long  as  the  story  of  our  colonial  days 
is  told,  that  Ben  Milam  will  be  known  as  the  hero  of  the 
Battle  of  Bexar.  He  was  a  man  of  wonderful  personality, 

114 


BEN  MlLAM    AND    THE    FALL    OF    BfiXAR 

taller  than  his  fellows,  powerful  in  mould  and  as  hand- 
some as  one  of  Arthur's  fabled  knights. 

On  December  4,  1835,  he  returned  from  a  successful 
scouting  expedition  towards  the  Rio  Grande,  and  found 
much  indecision  as  to  whether  the  city  should  be  stormed  or 
the  siege  continued. 

He  walked  among  his  countrymen  and  heard  their  quib- 
blings  and  how  some  would  fight,  and  others  would  wait 
and  go  home  and  renew  the  campaign  in  the  spring,  and 
without  a  council  of  war  he  made  the  bold  defiance,  *  *  Who 
will  go  into  San  Antonio  with  Old  Ben  Milam?"  And  hav- 
ing thus  advertised  the  excursion,  he  was  quick  to  capitalize 
the  enthusiasm  it  produced,  and  that  very  day  the  battle 
began  which  raged  for  six  days  and  resulted  in  the  capitu- 
lation of  the  Mexican  Army. 

On  the  third  day  Milam  was  killed,  and  was  buried  where 
he  fell.  And  now  thousands  pass  each  day  along  the 
busy  street  of  the  city  just  off  which  stands  the  soldier's 
sepulcher. 

And  as  we  go  on  in  this  narrative  and  leave  behind  us 
the  ashes  of  our  hero  dead,  I  cannot  refrain  from  relating 
something  of  the  life  of  Milam,  for  we  shall  not  meet  him 
again  in  these  pages. 

He  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1791,  a  year  older  than 
Austin  and  two  years  older  than  Houston.  He  was  a  sol- 
dier in  the  war  of  1812,  and  as  early  as  1817  he  and  David 
G.  Burnet  were  alone  among  the  Comanches  out  on  the 
headwaters  of  the  Brazos.  In  1819  he  joined  General 
Long  and  Felix  Trespelacios  in  the  ill  fated  Long's  ex- 
pedition into  Texas.  He  was  in  Mexico  at  the  close  of  the 
war  for  independence,  and  was  among  the  first  to  apply  for 
an  Empresario  contract,  but  had  to  await  the  organization 
of  the  State  Government  and  got  his  grant  in  1825  (along 


115 


BEN  MlLAM    AND    THE    FALL    OF    BfiXAR 

Red  River).  In  an  effort  to  finance  his  project,  he  went 
to  England  in  1827.  A  nephew  of  his  who  was  a  very 
small  boy  at  that  time  and  who  lived  to  be  a  very  old  man, 
once  told  me  the  story  of  Milam's  romance.  He  had  a 
sweetheart  when  he  left  for  England  and  she  was  to  await 
his  return.  But  when  he  was  away  another  frontiersman 
rode  that  way  and  persuaded  her  to  break  her  vows  with 
the  absent  lover.  She  had  some  grounds  for  apprehen- 
sion, for  Ben  was  such  a  rover,  and  she  did  not  know  but 
that  the  next  news  of  him  might  be  that  he  had  embarked 
in  some  enterprise  on  the  other  side  of  the  world,  or  had 
gone  to  war  with  the  Turks. 

When  Milam  returned  to  his  Red  River  Colony,  he 
brought  with  him  silks  and  laces  and  much  feminine  finery 
he  had  bought  for  his  bride,  and  this  nephew  told  me  how 
his  Uncle  Ben  gave  all  these  treasures  to  his  (the  lad's) 
mother,  and  took  another  journey  down  into  Mexico. 

In  1835  he  was  again  among  his  colonists  on  the  Red 
River.  In  those  days  there  was  much  confusion  caused  by 
the  Eleven  Leaguers  who  were  abroad  in  the  land  locating 
eleven  league  grants  which  were  being  handed  out  by  the 
Coahuila  Government,  and  which  often  conflicted  with  the 
earlier  Empresario  grants. 

Milam  undertook  his  last  trip  into  Mexico  in  an  effort 
to  settle  these  tangled  affairs,  and  left  Red  River  with  a 
few  cold  biscuits  and  some  parched  coffee  to  ride  to  the 
City  of  Mexico.  He  was  at  Monclovia  when  the  State 
Government  collapsed  in  1835. 

I  cannot  better  close  this  narrative  of  Milam  than  by  a 
literal  quotation  from  the  address  of  William  H.  Wharton 
delivered  at  the  Hall  of  the  Academy  of  Music  in  New  York 
City  on  April  26,  1836.  Wharton,  with  Austin  and  Archer, 
had  gone  as  Commissioners  from  the  United  States  in  the 

116 


BEN  MlLAM    AND    THE    FALL    OF    BfiXAR 

preceding  December.  They  had  gone  through  many  of  the 
States  rousing  sympathy  and  urging  assistance  for  Texas. 
They  made  addresses  in  the  leading  cities.  Two  of  these 
have  come  down  to  us  and  are  classics  of  the  period  of  the 
Revolution.  One  is  the  address  of  Austin  made  at  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  in  February;  the  other  Colonel  Wharton's 
New  York  speech  just  referred  to,  and  indeed  it  is  the 
great  masterpiece  of  our  colonial  history.  The  hall  was 
crowded  with  an  audience  of  thousands,  for  interest  in 
Texas  was  very  great  everywhere  in  the  States.  News  of  the 
fall  of  the  Alamo  and  the  Massacre  of  Goliad  had  reached 
the  East  and  had  been  published  in  the  daily  papers.  At 
the  time  this  address  was  delivered,  only  the  most  awful  in- 
formation from  Texas  had  reached  the  .outside  world, 
though  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  had  been  fought  five  days 
before.  But  neither  Wharton  nor  his  hearers  knew  this, 
and  they  hourly  expected  news  of  even  greater  disaster  than 
the  Alamo  or  Goliad. 

Wharton  sought  to  arouse  his  great  audience  and  all 
who  would  read  his  address  to  active  support  for  Texas, 
for  he  knew  that  his  people  were  in  the  death  struggle,  and 
he  knew  of  no  more  stirring  story  than  that  of  the  last  days 
of  Ben  Milam. 

Here  is  his  narrative :  Governor  Viesca  of  Coahuila  was 
overtaken  by  Cos  and  imprisoned.  It  was  the  misfortune 
of  the  lamented  Milam,  who  was  returning  from  Mexico 
City  to  his  home  in  Texas,  to  be  found  in  company  with  the 
Governor.  For  this  dreadful  offence,  he  too  was  put  in 
prison. 

After  some  months  imprisonment,  he  escaped  and  started 
for  Texas.  In  order  to  elude  pursuit,  he  travelled  six  hun- 
dred miles  without  a  road,  prosecuting  his  journey  by  night 
and  secreting  himself  during  the  day. 

117 


BEN  MlLAM   AND   THE    FALL    OF    BfiXAR 

Throughout  this  dangerous  and  protracted  journey,  he 
subsisted  on  some  few  articles  of  food  which  he  had  con- 
trived to  obtain  on  his  escape  from  prison,  for  he  dared  not 
show  his  face  at  any  habitation.  Early  in  October  he  had 
gotten  into  Texas,  and  as  he  limped  along  the  road  he 
heard  the  approach  of  soldiers,  and  thinking  he  was  about 
to  be  overtaken  by  his  enemies,  he  hid  himself  by  the  road- 
side. To  his  great  joy  he  heard  them  talking  his  own 
tongue,  and  saw  a  company  of  Texas  volunteers  sweeping 
on  their  way  to  Goliad.  He  made  himself  known  to  them 
and  went  with  them  to  Goliad  and  Gonzales.  Though  he 
had  been  an  officer  in  the  Army  of  the  United  States  and 
a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  he  joined  the  .ranks  as  a  private 
and  went  on  with  the  patriot  army  to  San  Antonio.  On 
the  evening  of  December  4th,  he  stepped  from  the  ranks 
and  beat  up  for  volunteers  to  storm  the  Castle  of  San  An- 
tonio, and  began  an  attack  against  heavy  odds. 

"They  entered  the  town  to  conquer  or  die, 
Firm  paced  and  slow,  a  fearless  front  they 

formed, 
Still  as  the  breeze,  but  dreadful  as  the  storm. ' ' 

For  six  successive  days  and  nights,  they  grappled  with 
the  foe,  but  the  life  of  their  leader  was  the  price  of  their 
victory. 

"Oft  shall  the  soldier  think  of  thee, 
Thou  dauntless  leader  of  the  brave, 

Who  on  the  heights  of  tyranny, 

Won  freedom — and  a  glorious  grave. 

"And  o'er  thy  tomb  shall  pilgrims  weep, 
And  utter  prayers  in  murmurs  low, 


118 


SAM  HOUSTON 

That  peaceful  be  the  Hero's  sleep, 
Who  conquered  San  Antonio. 

* '  Enshrined  on  honor 's  deathless  scroll, 
A  nation's  thanks  shall  be  thy  fame, 
Long  as  her  beauteous  rivers  roll, 
Shall  Freedom's  votaries  hymn  thy  name." 

This  simple  but  beautiful  poem  dedicated  to  Milam  had 
been  published  in  a  New  York  paper  a  few  weeks  before. 
The  surrender  of  Cos'  army  left  Texas  free  from  Mexican 
soldiers.  They  were  paroled  and  sent  south.  It  was  now 
December,  but  in  a  few  short  weeks  they  came  again,  Cos, 
with  Santa  Anna,  Sesma,  Filisola  and  Almonte,  for  now 
we  are  at  the  threshold  of  Eighteen  Hundred  and  Thirty- 
six. 


XII. 
SAM  HOUSTON. 

Houston  will  ever  be  the  outstanding  name  in  Texas  his- 
tory. It  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  have  it  otherwise, 
though  the  student  of  our  annals  should  reach  a  different 
verdict  as  to  the  merit  of  the  men  who  wrought  in  the 
scheme  of  our  destiny.  His  tragic  appearance  into  our 
affairs  and  the  critical  hour  of  his  coming,  the  great  suc- 
cess of  the  campaign  of  1836,  his  long  and  eventful  career, 
which  only  ended  with  secession,  which  he  bitterly  opposed 
a  quarter  of  a  century  later — add  to  all  these  a  stern,  ster- 
ling character  and  a  personality  rarely  found  among  the 
heroes  of  any  age,  and  one  will  not  wonder  why  Sam  Hous- 

119 


SAM  HOUSTON 

ton  has  become  by  universal  consent  the  hero  of  our  his- 
tory. He  was  an  actor  of  great  skill,  a  spectacular  man 
wholly  unlike  the  modest,  reticent  Austin.  When  Houston 
came,  Austin  was  dying.  Fourteen  years  of  privation, 
labor  without  ceasing,  days  and  nights  on  horseback  across 
-trackless  wilds,  had  written  deep  traces  in  the  sad,  white 
face  which  William  J.  Russell  saw  in  the  flickering  candle 
light  that  October  night  at  Gonzales.  Houston  came  with 
the  flush  of  victory  in  1836,  and  December  of  that  year 
Austin  died. 

In  1832,  when  the  first  rumblings  of  the  coming  Revo- 
lution were  heard,  Houston,  who  was  yet  under  forty,  was 
living  among  the  Cherokee  Indians  in  Arkansas. 

He  had  resigned  the  governorship  of  Tennessee  and  sought 
this  voluntary  exile  three  years  before,  and  during  all  this 
retirement  he  is  known  to  have  entertained  thoughts  of  com- 
ing to  Texas.  Wild  rumors  of  his  intentions  to  lead  the 
Cherokees  in  an  attack  upon  Mexican  authority  in  Texas 
assumed  such  proportions  as  to  cause  President  Jackson, 
always  his  devoted  friend,  to  write  him  a  personal  letter  of 
remonstrance.  There  has  been  and  will  be  much  specula- 
tion as  to  whether  there  was  any  understanding  between 
Houston  and  Jackson  which  preceded  Houston's  coming. 

While  many  circumstances  would  suggest  this,  yet  I  do 
not  believe  it  existed.  That  they  both  hoped  for  just  such 
a  result  as  obtained,  is  but  natural. 

Franklin  Williams,  grandson  of  General  Houston,  has 
the  original  passport  issued  to  Houston  for  his  first  journey 
into  Texas,  which  was  then  a  foreign  country,  in  1832. 
The  document  has  never  before  been  published  as  far  as  I 
know. 

"SAM  HOUSTON  PASSPORT 

' '  I,  the  undersigned,  Acting  Secretary  of  War,  do  hereby 

120 


- 


JB 

m 


i 


OLD  ETCHING  OF  GENERAL  HOUSTON,  MADE  IN  1837 


SAM  HOUSTON 

request  all  the  Tribes  of  Indians,  whether  in  amity  with 
the  United  States,  or  as  yet  not  allied  to  them  by  Treaties, 
to  permit  safely  and  freely  to  pass  through  their  respective 
Territories, — 

— General  Sam  Houston — 

a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  thirty-eight  years  of  age, 
six  feet  two  inches  in  stature,  brown  hair,  and  light  com- 
plexion ;  and  in  case  of  need,  to  give  him  all  lawful  aid  and 
protection. 

' '  GIVEN  UNDER  my  hand  and  the  impression 
of  the  SEAL  of  the  DEPARTMENT  OF  WAR,  at  the 
City  of  Washington,  this  Sixth  day  of  August, 
(SEAL)  in  the  Year  of  OUR  LORD  One  Thousand  eight 
hundred  and  thirty- two,  and  of  the  Indepen- 
dence of  the  UNITED  STATES,  the  fifty  sev- 
enth. 

"  (Signed)    JOHN  ROBB, 

" Acting  Secretary  of  War." 

Armed  with  this  passport,  he  came  from  Arkansas  via 
Nacogdoches  and  San  Felipe  to  San  Antonio  in  December, 
1832,  where  he  had  a  conference  with  the  Mexican  author- 
ities and  with  a  delegation  of  Comanche  Indians,  who  were 
sometimes  roving  residents  of  the  States.  I  have  never 
been  able  to  find  any  tangible  reason  for  this  strange  visit 
of  Houston  under  a  commission  from  the  American  Secre- 
tary of  War.  Upon  his  return  to  Nachitoches,  Louisiana,  in 
January,  1833,  he  wrote  President  Jackson,  advising, '  *  Hav- 
ing been  as  far  as  Bexar  in  the  Province  of  Texas,  I  had  an 
interview  with  the  Comanche  Indians ;  I  am  in  possession  of 
information  which  will  be  of  interest  to  you  and  may  be  cal- 
culated to  forward  your  views  if  you  should  entertain  any 
touching  the  acquisition  of  Texas,  etc."  The  entire  letter 

121 


SAM  HOUSTON 

is  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  Texas'  internal  affairs  and  the 
anxiety  of  the  Americans  in  Texas  for  union  with  the 
States,  with  a  mere  mention  of  the  ostensible  mission  which 
had  taken  him  to  Texas.  He  advised  that  a  convention 
would  be  held  in  Texas  in  April,  and  '  *  I  expect  to  be  pres- 
ent and  will  advise  you  of  the  course  adopted."  He  did 
attend  the  1833  convention  as  a  delegate  from  San  Augus- 
tine. In  1834  he  was  back  among  the  Cherokees  in  Arkan- 
sas, but  late  in  that  year  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Nacog- 
doches,  and  we  find  him  a  delegate  from  that  municipality 
to  the  consultation  which  convened  at  San  Felipe  in  Octo- 
ber, 1835. 

Just  before  the  consultation  met,  he  rode  down  to  the 
Guadaloupe  for  a  visit  to  the  patriot  army,  then  on  its 
way  to  San  Antonio.  Noah  Smithwick,  who  was  with  the 
army,  tells  of  his  arrival  mounted  on  a  yellow  Spanish  stud, 
and  that  he  made  a  speech  and  rode  back  to  the  Brazos  for 
the  convention. 

He  was  a  strong  person  in  the  consultation ;  a  man  of  rare 
experience  in  governmental  matters,  and  looked  upon  as 
the  confidential  friend  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
He  had  now  definitely  decided  to  cast  his  lot  with  Texas 
and  aimed  at  leadership.  On  November  14th,  the  day  be- 
fore Edward  Burleson  was  elected  viva  voce  to  command  the 
army  at  Bexar,  when  Austin  left  for  the  United  States,  the 
General  Council  sitting  in  San  Felipe  selected  Houston  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  Texas  armies.  But  this  high  sound- 
ing phrase  was  a  bitter  mockery  for  Texas  had  no  govern- 
ment, no  war  chest,  no  army. 

After  the  fall  of  Bexar  in  December,  the  volunteers  took 
leave  for  their  homes,  only  a  small  garrison  remaining.  The 
months  which  followed  were  full  of  confusion  and  gloom. 
The  General  Council  at  San  Felipe  degenerated  into  a  vi- 

122 


SAM  HOUSTON 

cious  quarrel,  poor  old  Governor  Smith  writing  philippic 
messages  of  denunciation,  and  a  majority  against  him  re- 
fusing to  act  upon  any  plan  he  would  suggest.  There  were 
those  in  Texas 'who  yet  entertained  the  fond  hope  that  a 
party  in  Mexico  would  rise  to  co-operate  in  resistance  to 
Santa  Anna,  and  there  was  considerable  sentiment  imme- 
diately following  the  success  at  Bexar  for  an  invasion  of 
Mexico. 

James  Fannin,  whose  martyrdom  a  few  months  later 
silenced  criticism,  was  the  chief  in  the  proposed  Mexican 
invasion.  Instead  of  a  concerted  action  for  defense  against 
the  large  Mexican  army  now  known  to  be  mustering  for  ap- 
proach by  way  of  San  Antonio,  Fannin  and  Doctor  John 
Grant  and  others  with  authority  from  the  General  Council, 
and  without  co-operation  with  Houston,  wasted  the  early 
months  of  1836  and  frustrated  Houston's  plans  for  an  or- 
ganized defense. 

In  the  mad  political  strife  of  the  late  fifties,  when  Sena- 
tor Houston  would  not  go  with  the  extreme  secessionists  and 
left  the  Democratic  party,  bitter  attacks  were  made  on  him 
and  much  effort  was  made  to  show  that  he  was  a  coward, 
that  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  was  won  in  spite  of  him,  and 
volumes  of  invectives  were  written  against  him. 

I  have  read  all  the  evidences  that  are  available  and  am 
persuaded  that  no  case  is  made  against  the  old  hero.  Those 
best  able  to  judge  him  were  his  comrades  in  the  1836  cam- 
paign. The  first  presidential  election  was  held  within 
four  months  after  the  battle.  By  common  consent  he  was 
nominated  and  elected  to  the  presidency  almost  by  acclama- 
tion, although  both  Austin  and  Henry  Smith  were  his  op- 
ponents. He  was  again  chosen  President  of  the  Eepublic 
after  Lamar's  term;  and  when  Texas  was  admitted  to  the 
Union  he  was  chosen  U.  S.  Senator  almost  without  dissent, 


123 


EIGHTEEN   HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-SIX 

when  the  Legislature  which  elected  him  was  filled  with  men 
who  went  through  the  San  Jacinto  campaign. 

And  as  the  ages  come  and  go,  in  remote  years  yet  to  be, 
when  other  names  of  the  colonial  epoch  are  forgotten,  this 
strange,  stalwart,  tragic  man  will  stand  out  not  only  the 
most  interesting  character  in  our  history  but  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  all  time. 


XIII. 
EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-SIX. 

This  is  the  all-eventful  year  in  Texas  history. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  made  at  Washing- 
ton on  the  Brazos  on  March  2nd. 

The  Alamo  fell  on  March  6th. 

Fannin  fell  at  Goliad  March  27th. 

San  Jacinto  was  fought  on  April  21st. 

The  first  presidential  election  was  held  and  Houston 
elected  President  in  September. 

The  first  Congress  of  the  Republic  met  at  Columbia  Oc- 
tober 3rd. 

Austin  died  December  27th. 

The  dawn  of  the  year  saw  a  small  garrison  of  about  150 
men  at  Bexar,  and  though  it  was  known  that  a  large  Mexi- 
can army  was  being  organized  for  invasion,  there  was  no 
plan  or  concerted  action  for  defense. 

The  quarrel  between  Governor  Smith  and  the.  Council 
had  reached  the  riot  stage,  and  he  had  been  deposed  and 
James  W.  Robinson,  of  Nacogdoches,  Lieutenant  Governor, 
reigned  in  his  stead.  And  in  passing  I  must  say  a  word 
about  *  *  Lawyer  Robinson. ' ' 

124 


EIGHTEEN   HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-SIX 

After  the  Council  had  ceased  to  function,  when  the  con- 
vention met  in  March,  he  joined  the  army  and  was  at  the 
Battle  of  San  Jacinto.  He  was  one  of  the  first  District 
Judges  under  the  Republic,  and  in  1842  was  attending  court 
at  San  Antonio  when  a  Mexican  marauding  force,  under 
Woll,  captured  the  city,  court  and  all,  and  Judge  Robinson 
found  himself  in  a  Mexican  prison.  Tiring  of  prison  life, 
he  opened  an  intrigue  with  Santa  Anna,  who  happened  to 
be  in  power  again  at  that  particular  interval,  and  wrote  the 
Mexican  President  a  letter  advising  that  since  he  (Robin- 
son) was  a  lawyer  of  some  prominence  in  his  own  country, 
he  might  be  useful  if  allowed  his  freedom  in  persuading  the 
people  of  Texas  to  return  to  Mexican  sovereignty.  Santa 
Anna  seemed  impressed  with  the  idea  and  allowed  Lawyer 
Robinson,  yet  in  prison,  to  open  negotiations  with  President 
Houston,  who  was  then  serving  his  second  term.  Houston 
seems  to  have  humored  the  joke,  and  Robinson  got  out  of 
Mexico  to  complete  his  negotiations,  which  were  dropped  as 
soon  as  he  got  home.  Shortly  after  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California  in  1849,  both  Robinson  and  Henry  Smith  joined 
an  emigrant  train  across  the  desert,  and  these  veteran 
enemies  travelled  together  in  a  wagon  train  for  a  thousand 
miles,  each  nursing  his  old  time  hatred  for  the  other.  Judge 
Robinson's  wife,  Sarah,  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  wo- 
man, who  had  come  to  Texas  with  him  in  1828,  went  with 
him  to  California  and  was  still  living  there  fifty  years 
later.  They  had  gotten  their  headright  league  in  Vehlein's 
Colony  and  after  Robinson 's  death  in  California  many  years 
later,  Sarah  sold  this  league.  About  twenty  years  ago  I 
represented  one  of  the  owners  of  this  land  in  a  suit  brought 
by  the  descendants  of  James  W.  Robinson  of  Ohio.  They 
alleged  and  proved  that  he  had  eloped  from  Ohio  in  1827 
with  Sarah,  leaving  a  wife  and  children,  and  these  grand- 

125 


EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-SIX 

children  came  to  claim  their  inheritance  from  their  prodigal 
ancestor.  Maybe  this  little  bit  of  scandal  should  remain 
untold.  But  it  is  part  of  the  judicial  history  of  San  Jacinto 
County,  where  depositions  were  filed  proving  these  facts. 
At  the  beginning  of  1836,  Lieutenant  Governor  James  W. 
Robinson  dominated  in  general  council.  James  Fannin  and 
Doctor  John  Grant  and  Frank  Johnson  were  planning  an 
invasion  of  Mexico  by  Matamoros.  They  had  fewer  than 
500  men,  and  were  without  means  of  transportation  or  sup- 
plies. General  Houston  was  unable  to  exercise  any  author- 
ity, though  he  was  in  name  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
army.  He  bided  the  assembling  of  the  convention,  which 
was  called  to  meet  in  March,  and  used, the  interval  in  a 
series  of  conversations  with  the  Indians,  whose  attitude  was 
a  matter  of  much  concern  at  this  juncture.  If  the  Comanches 
and  Cherokees  had  gone  on  the  war  path  against  the  colo- 
nists early  in  1836,  the  Americans  would  have  been  wiped 
out.  All  available  men  were  being  pressed  to  join  the  army 
to  repel  the  Mexican  invasion.  Families  were  left  unpro- 
tected on  a  wide  frontier,  which  reached  from  San  Antonio 
to  the  Sabine.  There  were  bands  of  Indian  warriors  all 
along  this  frontier  who  could  have  swept  over  the  settle- 
ments in  a  week.  Houston  went  in  person  among  these 
people  and  held  thirteen  councils  with  them.  He  was  a 
Cherokee  Chief,  and  all  his  life  loved  and  was  loved  by  the 
Indians.  To  him  we  owe  the  fact  that  these  warriors  did 
not  draw  the  bow  during  the  campaign  of  1836. 

Franklin  Williams,  a  grandson  of  General  Houston,  re- 
cently related  in  my  hearing  an  account  of  a  pow  wow  be- 
tween Houston  and  the  Indians  which  had  been  told  him  by 
his  mother.  A  delegation  of  Cherokees  came  several  days' 
journey  to  see  him.  They  had  ridden  day  and  night  for 
several  days.  They  came  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of 


126 


EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-SIX 

the  house,  and  after  hobbling  their  tired  horses  they  sat 
in  a  circle  under  a  tree,  leaving  an  open  or  vacant  space  in 
the  circle.  They  did  not  look  towards  the  house  or  make 
any  pretense  of  seeing  Houston.  Nor  did  he  see  them,  but 
pretended  to  ignore  them  for  a  time.  After  a  while 
he  moved  and  occupied  the  vacant  place  in  the  circle,  but 
no  word  was  spoken,  or  glance  of  recognition  given.  The 
pipe  was  passed  from  hand  to  hand  and  they  all  puffed  it. 
And  after  a  long  dignified  silence,  their  spokesman  began 
the  conversation  and  made  known  the  purpose  of  their 
journey.  The  President  heard  their  story,  and  promised 
them  redress,  and  then  he  bade  them  kill  a  beef  for  their 
refreshment,  for  they  had  not  eaten  during  the  long  jour- 
ney in  which  they  had  ridden  day  and  night,  nor  had  they 
slept. 

After  they  had  gorged  the  beef  without  the  detail  of 
cooking  it,  the  entire  delegation  lay  under  the  trees  and 
slept  for  a  day  and  a  night,  and  then  they  silently  mounted 
their  horses  and  retraced  their  long  way  whence  they  came, 
riding  without  rest  until  they  reached  their  people. 

One  cannot  but  wish  that  the  white  brother  had  some- 
thing of  this  great  gift  of  golden  silence. 

It  would  be  hard  indeed  to  picture  a  darker  prospect 
than  fronted  our  people  at  the  dawn  of  the  year  1836. 
The  President  of  Mexico,  with  an  army  of  most  ten 
thousand  men,  was  moving  towards  the  border.  Fannin, 
Grant,  Johnson  and  other  visionary  incompetents  were 
trying  to  lead  five  hundred  men  to  an  invasion  of  Mexico. 
A  mere  handful  of  volunteers  garrisoned  the  outpost  at 
San  Antonio. 

The  General  Council,  our  governing  body,  had  gone  to 
pieces.  There  was  not  1000  men  under  arms  in  all  Texas. 
Without  a  government,  without  an  army,  without  a  treas- 

127 


THE  CONVENTION  OF  MARCH,  1836 

ury,  without  credit,  the  Colonies  faced  dire  disaster  at  the 
dawn  of  1836. 


XIV. 
THE  CONVENTION  OF  MARCH,  1836. 

For  the  fourth  time  in  our  history,  a  convention  of  all 
Texas  met  on  March  1,  1836,  at  Washington  on  the  Brazos. 
Without  a  moment's  delay,  a  permanent  organization  was 
had  with  Richard  Ellis,  from  Red  River,  as  Chairman. 
The  General  Council  was  still  in  session  at  San  Felipe,  but 
its  conspicuous  failures  earned  it  the  contempt  of  the  new 
convention.  An  effort  was  made  to  have  the  convention 
go  into  merits  of  the  quarrel  between  Governor  Smith  and 
the  Council,  but  the  convention  hurried  to  the  tasks  be- 
fore it  and  declined  to  take  any  notice  of  the  controversy, 
and  the  whole  pitiful  farce  passed  into  history.  It  is  fair 
to  Governor  Smith  to  say  that  that  generation  exonerated 
his  fidelity  and  integrity,  but  probably  not  his  judgment. 

As  soon  as  the  convention  was  ready  for  business,  George 
C.  Childress,  of  the  Red  River  country,  moved  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  of  five  to  draft  a  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence. Tradition  tells  that  he  had  already  prepared 
the  draft  of  the  declaration  and  that  it  had  been  approved 
by  Houston  and  others  to  whom  it  had  been  submitted.  The 
committee  brought  in  the  draft  the  next  morning,  and  when 
it  was  read  on  motion  of  General  Houston,  it  was  unani- 
mously adopted  early  in  the  morning  of  March  2,  1836, 
which  by  the  way  was  his  43rd  birthday. 

On  the  4th  Houston  was  again  chosen  Commander-in- 


128 


THE  CONVENTION  OF  MARCH,  1836 

Chief,  and  on  Sunday  morning,  March  6th,  the  same  hour 
the  Alamo  fell,  he  left  Washington  with  an  escort  of  four 
men  riding  towards  San  Antonio.  At  that  time  it  was 
known  to  Houston  and  to  the  convention  that  there  was  no 
hope  for  Travis,  and  that  no  help  could  be  expected  from 
Fannin  and  Grant  and  those  mad,  mislead  men  who  had 
lately  moved  towards  remote  Matamoros  while  Santa  Anna 's 
army  inarched  directly  into  the  heart  of  Texas. 

In  a  cold  March  rain,  the  five  horsemen  rode  west 
while  saa,  sober  faces  bade  them  good-bye  and  turned  to 
the  business  of  the  convention. 

Speaking  of  this  occasion,  General  Houston  said  many 
years  later:  "The  only  hope  lay  in  the  few  men  assembled 
at  Gonzales.  The  Alamo  was  known  to  be  under  siege,  Fan- 
nin was  known  to  be  embarrassed,  Ward,  Morris  and  John- 
son destroyed.  All  seemed  to  bespeak  a  calamity  of  the 
most  direful  character.  It  was  under  these  auspices  that 
the  General  started  with  an  escort  of  two  aides,  a  captain 
and  a  boy,  yet  he  was  sent  to  produce  a  nation  and  defend 
a  people. ' ' 

Travis'  last  message  sent  from  the  Alamo  on  March  3rd 
reached  Washington  on  Sunday  morning,  just  before  Hous- 
ton left,  and  about  the  hour  the  Alamo  fell,  and  was  read 
in  the  convention  at  its  opening  session  on  that  day,  but 
there  was  nothing  the  convention  could  do  except  to  adopt 
a  resolution  that  "1,000  copies  of  the  letter  ~be  printed,"  and 
this  they  arranged  for. 

With  independence  declared  and  Houston  on  the  way 
west,  the  convention  addressed  itself  to  the  formation  of 
our  first  constitution,  for  our  fathers  were  firm  believers  in 
constitutional  government.  With  them  it  was  as  natural 
for  a  new  government  to  have  a  solemnly  written  constitu- 


129 


THE  CONVENTION  OF  MARCH,  1836 

tion  as  for  an  infant  to  be  christened  and  bear  his  father's 
name. 

In  these  awful  environments,  the  constitution  of  March, 
1836,  was  written,  debated  and  adopted,  and  prepared  for 
submission  to  the  people  for  ratification.  But  no  man  knew 
when  if  ever  there  could  be  a  submission  at  a  general  elec- 
tion, and  until  this  was  done  a  government  ad  interim  was 
provided.  David  G.  Burnet  was  chosen  President  and  the 
Mexican-Spaniard  Lorenza  de  Zavala,  lately  fled  from 
Mexico  to  escape  Santa  Anna,  was  chosen  Vice-President. 

The  last  hours  of  the  convention,  which  finished  its  la- 
bors late  on  the  night  of  March  17th,  were  hastened  by  a 
rumor  that, a  Mexican  army  was  near  at  hand.  News  of 
the  fall  of  the  Alamo  had  come  by  a  courier  on  the  15th, 
but  there  was  no  unseemly  haste  on  the  part  of  the  con- 
vention. 

The  constitution  which  was  formulated  by  this  convention 
was  never  formally  enrolled  or  engrossed,  and  the  original 
draft  was  taken  away  by  H.  S.  Kimball,  the  Secretary,  who 
was  instructed  to  enroll  it  for  presentation.  He  took  it  to 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  it  was  published  in  one  of  the 
papers,  from  which  it  was  republished  in  a  Cincinnati  pa- 
per, and  from  this  Cincinnati  publication  it  was  copied  in 
the  first  issue  of  Borden's  paper,  which  was  printed  after 
the  Revolution  at  Columbia  on  August  2nd.  Late  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  last  day,  the  President  left  for  Harris- 
burg,  and  there  was  only  one  -family  left  in  Washington  on 
the  Brazos. 

There  are  fifty-eight  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence which  this  convention  promulgated  on  March 
2nd.  Forty  of  them  were  under  forty  years  of  age.  Many 
of  them  were  men  highty  educated  and  of  rare  experience. 
Nearly  all  of  them  came  from  the  Southern  States,  eleven 


130 


THE   ALAMO 

from  the  Carolinas.  There  were  two  native  Texaiis,  Jose 
Antonio  Navarro  and  Francisco  Ruis,  both  from  Bexar. 
There  was  an  Englishman,  a  Canadian,  a  Spaniard  born 
in  Madrid,  an  Irishman  and  a  Scotchman. 

The  leaders  in  Texas  during  all  these  years  were  for  the 
most  part  slave-holding  planters,  and  though  that  oft-called 
slave-holding  oligarchy  paid  the  extreme  penalty  in  the 
next  generation,  yet  its  aggressiveness  and  love  of  dominion 
and  empire  won  Texas  and  the  great  southwest  for  the 
American  Uuion. 


XV. 
THE  ALAMO. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  and  for  many  years 
theretofore,  an  old  Spanish  Mission  fortress  stood  on  the 
San  Antonio  River  about  a  mile  from  the  center  of  the 
little  city.  It  derived  its  name  from  the  cottonwood  trees 
which  grew  about  it.  Adjoining  the  chapel  was  a  stone 
walled  enclosure  of  about  two  city  blocks,  which  had  been 
erected  as  a  protection  against  the  Indians.  After  the 
patriot  army  had  captured  the  city  in  December,  1835, 
many  01  the  volunteer  soldiers  had  gone  home,  and  those 
remaining  were  disorganized  and  without  supplies. 

Colonel  Neill  remained  nominally  in  charge  of  the  gar- 
rison quartered  in  the  Alamo,  which,  on  January  14th, 
consisted  of  eighty-six  men. 

Immediately  following  the  fall  of  the  city  to  the  Texas 
army,  the  wild  scheme  was  advanced  for  the  invasion  of 
Mexico  by  Matamoros,  and  Frank  W.  Johnson,  and  the  ill 

131 


THE  ALAMO 

fated  Scotchman,  Doctor  John  Grant,  persuaded  a  large 
number  to  join  them  in  this  fool's  enterprise,  and  they 
forgathered  at  Goliad,  San  Patricio,  and  other  places  in 
that  direction. 

All  Texas  knew  at  the  dawn  of  1836  that  a  large  Mex- 
ican army  was  being  formed  to  march  upon  Texas,  and  al- 
most daily  rumors  and  confirmed  reports  came  that  these 
armies  were  approaching  the  Bio  Grande.  In  the  face 
of  this  deadly  disaster,  a  sad  state  of  affairs  presented  it- 
self. 

Governor  Smith  wrote  letters  and  sent  couriers  and  did 
his  utmost  to  get  reinforcements  to  the  Alamo,  but  the 
council  deposed  him  and  commissioned  Fannin,  Grant, 
and  Johnson  to  invade  Mexico,  though  there  were  not  500 
men  in  sight  for  such  an  enterprise.  Houston,  Commander- 
in-Chief,  had  no  army  to  command  nor  prospect  of  any. 
He  advised  that  the  garrison  at  the  Alamo  destroy  the 
fortress  and  retreat  east  of  the  Guadaloupe,  but  his  advice 
was  ignored.  Q^e  urged  Fannin,  who  with  several  hundred 
men  was  near  Goliad,  to  retreat  to  Victoria,  but  Fannin 
refused  to  recognize  his  authority!}  In  January,  Governor 
Smith  sent  Colonel  Travis,  who  w£s  recruiting  on  the  Colo- 
rado, to  relieve  Colonel  Niell  in  command  at  the  Alamo,  and 
in  this  way  conferred  on  this  young  officer  the  boon  of 
martyrdom  and  immortality.  In  February,  as  the  Mex- 
ican army  approached,  Travis  and  James  Bowie,  who  w-as 
now  with  him,  began  sending  out  couriers  begging  franti- 
cally for  help,  but  always  declaring  that  whether  relief 
came  they  would  defend  to  the  last. 

As  late  as  February  12th,  after  Travis  knew  that  Santa 
Anna's  army  was  approaching,  he  wrote  Governor  Smith, 
"With  two  hundred  men  I  believe  this  place  can  be  main- 
tained." 


132 


THE   ALAMO 

On  February  23rd,  Travis  reported  the  enemy  in  sight, 
and  on  that  day  a  large  army  camped  on  the  main  plaza,  a 
mile  away,  and  the  siege  began  and  continued  in  a  desultory 
way  for  ten  days,  during  which  time  a  bombardment  was 
kept  up,  and  the  Mexican  forces  entirely  surrounded  the 
beleaguered  fortress. 

In  the  early  morning  of  March  1st,  Captain  Albert  Martin 
with  thirty-one  men  came  through  the  Mexican  lines  from 
Gonzales,  and  took  their  places  with  the  defenders,  and 
near  noon  on  March  3rd,  the  gallant  James  B.  Bonham,  who 
had  been  sent  as  a  messenger  to  Fannin,  rode  back  through 
the  enemy  lines  to  report  no  aid  from  that  source.  So  that 
there  were  something  more  than  one  hundred  and  eighty 
men  in  the  command  at  the  end.  Almost  the  same  hour  that 
Bonham  came  Travis  sent  John  Smith  with  the  last  of  his 
series  of  bold  messages,  which  reached  the  Colonies  only 
after  the  Alamo  had  fallen. 

A  council  of  war  was  held  on  March  4th,  at  which  the 
Mexican  Command  decided  to  storm  the  fortress  at  dawn  on 
Sunday  morning,  March  6th.  General  Castrillion  was  put 
in  command  of  the  immediate  assault.  The  silence  of  the 
early  dawn  was  broken  by  a  shrill  bugle  blast  which  sum- 
moned the  charge,  and  as  the  tramp  of  the  on-rushing 
troops  filled  the  March  morning,  a  band  from  a  nearby  bat- 
tery struck  up  a  Spanish  air  which  was  known  as  the  assas- 
sin's  song,  and  meant  no  mercy.  In  sight  of  the  besieged 
men,  a  black  flag  floated  from  a  steeple.  Less  than  an 
hour  elapsed  from  the  first  assault  until  the  last  defender 
had  fallen. 

Castrillion  led  the  assault,  and  Santa  Anna  remained  with 
a  battery  from  Toluca  camped  to  the  south  and  safe  from 
gunshot,  where  the  band  played  the  assassin's  song  while 
the  assault  went  on. 


133 


THE  ALAMO 

On  the  same  day  and  after  the  fort  had  fallen,  he  made 
an  official  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War  from  which  I 
take  some  interesting  passages: 

* '  The  scene  offered  by  the  engagement  was  extraordinary. 
Twenty-one  pieces  of  artillery  was  used  with  most  perfect 
accuracy  and  illuminated  the  interior  of  the  fortress.  The 
fortress  is  now  in  our  power  and  the  corpses  of  more  than 
six  hundred  foreigners  were  buried  in  the  ditches.  A  great 
many  who  escaped  the  bayonet  of  the  infantry,  fell  under 
the  sabres  of  the  cavalry.  I  can  assure  your  Excellency 
that  few  are  those  who  bore  their  associates  the  tidings  of 
the  disaster.  Among  the  corpses  are  those  of  Bowie  and 
Travis,  who  styled  themselves  Colonels,  and  also  that  of 
Crockett.  Nor  will  we  hereafter  suffer  any  foreigners, 
whatever  their  origin  may  be,  to  pollute  our  soil.  I  shall 
in  due  time  send  your  Excellency  a  circumstantial  report 
of  this  glorious  triumph. ' ' 

It  is  not  related  whether  the  band  with  the  Toluca  Bat- 
tery continued  to  play  the  assassin's  song  while  his  Excel- 
lency wrote  this  report,  but  one  would  surmise  so  as  the 
strains  of  that  song  and  sentiment  abound  in  his  dic- 
tion. 

We  first  meet  and  part  with  Crockett  at  the  Alamo. 
He  had  only  come  to  Texas  a  few  weeks  before  from  Ten- 
nessee. He  had  been  a  member  of  Congress  from  Tennessee 
two  terms  and  had  gained  a  national  reputation  as  a  whig 
and  opponent  of  President  Jackson,  who  came  from  his 
own  State.  In  the  recent  elections  he  had  been  defeated  and 
in  his  characteristic  style  said  his  constituents  could  go  to 
hell  and  he  would  go  to  Texas.  He  was  a  stalwart,  pictur- 
esque frontiersman,  and  those  who  have  looked  upon  his 
portrait  as  it  hangs  in  the  entrance  to  our  State  House 


134 


GOLIAD 

at  Austin  can  but  be  impressed  that  he  was  a  splendid 
specimen  of  frontier  manhood. 

The  outstanding  feature  of  this  great  tragedy  was  the 
grim  determination  of  the  defenders  to  sell  their  lives  in 
what  they  knew  was  a  futile  effort  to  hold  the  fort. 

Travis  and  his  followers  could  have  escaped  to  Gonzales 
and  retreated  with  Houston,  but  this  fact,  though  obvious 
to  them,  was  never  given  a  serious  thought.  They  were 
determined  to  die  in  the  Alamo  at  the  threshold  of 
Texas. 

But  the  nearly  two  weeks  they  delayed  the  advance  of  the 
Mexican  army  was  as  valuable  to  Texas  as  the  sacrifice  of 
Belgium  in  the  path  of  the  Kaiser's  armies  which  saved 
Paris.  It  allowed  the  settlers  between  the  Guadaloupe  and 
the  Brazos  time  to  escape.  While  the  Alamo  was  falling,, 
the  convention  at  Washington  was  forming  a  government 
to  take  place  of  the  poor,  miserable  General  Council. 

And  as  night  fell  on  San  Antonio  on  that  beautiful 
March  day,  the  roar  of  battle  and  the  sounds  of  the  assas- 
sin's song  died  away,  and  the  mangled  forms  of  our  dead 
were  piled  like  debris  in  the  shadow  of  the  old  Mission. 

The  invading  army,  over  seven  thousand  men,  waited  or- 
ders to  march  on  east  and  exterminate  the  '  *  foreigners  who 
were  polluting  the  soil. ' ' 


XVI. 
GOLIAD. 

The  most  terrible  atrocity  of  the  Revolution  was  the  mas- 
sacre at  Goliad.    One  who  studies  this  awful  tragedy  after 

135 


GOLIAD 

the  lapse  of  years  is  alternately  moved  with  pity  and  con- 
tempt for  poor  Fannin.  If  his  blunders  had  cost  him  only 
his  life  we  could  well  forget  his  stubborn  stupidity.  He  had 
a  little  West  Point  training,  and  is  a  conspicuous  example 
of  the  very  old  truth  that  ' '  a  little  learning  is  a  dangerous 
thing." 

But  the  blood  of  those  who  fell  with  Fannin  may  well 
be  upon  the  heads  of  the  Council  at  San  Felipe  which  de- 
posed Governor  Smith  and  loaned  the  semblance  of  au- 
thority to  an  invasion  of  Mexico  by  way  of  Matamoros. 
Or,  as  Fannin  put  it,  "  carry  the  war  into  Mexico  to  keep 
it  out  of  Texas." 

After  the  capture  of  San  Antonio  in  December,  Fannin, 
who  was  with  the  army,  visited  San  Felipe  and  succeeded 
in  getting  a  commission  from  the  General  Council  which 
authorized  him  to  concentrate  forces  at  Copano,  a  port  on 
Aransas  Bay,  and  in  January  he  issued  a  call  to  volunteers 
to  join  him  in  such  an  enterprise.  Just  at  this  time  Major 
William  Ward,  with  the  Georgia  battallion,  arrived  at 
Velasco,  and  Fannin  being  a  Georgian  and  known  to  many 
of  them,  they  hastened  to  join  him.  In  the  meantime  Doc- 
tor John  Grant,  who  was  with  the  army  at  Bexar,  conceived 
the  idea  that  he  would  lead  an  invasion  into  Mexico  on  his 
own  account,  and  not  desiring  to  march  with  Fannin,  he 
got  permission  from  the  Council  and  moved  to  Goliad 
with  fewer  than  two  hundred  men  bent  on  carrying  the 
war  into  Mexico. 

Several  hundred  volunteers  had  arrived  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Brazos  since  the  opening  of  hostilities,  and  they  were 
being  diverted  to  Copano  and  other  places  towards  the 
southwest  for  this  enterprise.  All  supplies  and  munitions 
^vhich  were  being  shipped  by  sea  for  the  patriot  army  were 
bt;ng  landed  at  points  along  the  Gulf,  and  for  the  most 

136 


GOLIAD 

part,  they  were  being  taken  over  by  Fannin  or  concentrated 
for  use  in  his  campaign. 

The  small  garrison  at  the  Alamo  remained  isolated  while 
Johnson,  Grant  and  Fannin  rushed  their  mad  schemes  for 
a  descent  upon  Matamoros.  In  January,  General  Houston, 
who  had  been  named  Commander-in-Chief  by  the.  General 
Council  in  the  previous  November,  went  down  to  Goliad 
and  San  Patricio  in  an  effort  to  organize  these  wild,  dis- 
cordant elements,  but  nearly  every  man  he  met  had  a 
commission  from  the  General  Council  at  San  Felipe  to  act 
independently,  and  none  of  them  would  act  with  the  others 
or  with  Houston. 

He  returned  therefore  to  await  the  action  of  the  con- 
vention, which  was  to  assemble  in  March.  But  the  invading 
army  would  not  await  the  action  of  the  convention.  Santa 
Anna  was  early  advised  of  the  purpose  of  the  Texans  to  at- 
tack Matamoros,  and  sent  General  Urrea  there  with  a  sub- 
stantial force,  and  while  the  main  army  marched  from  La- 
redo towards  San  Antonio,  Urrea,  with  probably  1500  men, 
came  into  Texas  from  Matamoros.  On  February  27th, 
only  three  days  after  the  Mexican  army  reached  San  An- 
tonio and  began  the  siege  of  the  Alamo,  the  advance  guard 
of  Urrea 's  division  reached  San  Patricio,  where  they  at- 
tacked Frank  W.  Johnson's  small  command,  who  were 
scouting  about  the  country  in  an  aimless  fashion.  John- 
son was  one  of  the  commanders  commissioned  by  the  un- 
happy council  at  San  Felipe  to  lead  an  invasion  into  Mexico. 
All  of  Johnson's  men  were  killed  except  himself  and  four 
others  who  escaped.  Urrea 's  men  next  located  Doctor 
John  Grant  and  his  men. 

On  March  2nd,  the  very  day  the  convention  at  Washing- 
ton declared  independence,  Grant's  command  was  attacked 
about  twenty  miles  from  San  Patricio,  and  all  but  one  were 


137 


GOLIAD 

killed  or  captured.  Urrea  reported  forty-one  killed  and  six 
prisoners. 

A  story  has  long  been  told  in  Texas  that  the  Mexicans 
bound  Doctor  Grant  to  a  wild  mustang,  and  that  he  was 
dashed  to  death  in  that  fashion. 

The  surviving  witness  tells  that  he  saw  Grant  fall  and 
several  Mexican  soldiers  running  their  swords  through  his 
body.  Grant  was  a  Scotchman,  but  had  lived  long  years  in 
Mexico,  and  they  seemed  to  have  a  particular  enmity  to- 
wards him.  These  commanders,  Johnson  and  Grant,  had 
been  styled  the  advance  division  of  the  volunteer  army  for 
the  invasion  of  Mexico,  and  their  early  annihilation  was  a 
sad  blow  to  Fannin's  men  at  Goliad. 

On  March  10th,  Pannin  sent  Captain  King  with  twenty- 
eight  men  to  relieve  some  families  at  Befugio,  and  hearing 
two  days  later  that  King's  men  were  surrounded  in  the 
Mission  there,  he  sent  Colonel  Ward  with  his  one  hundred 
and  fifty  Georgia  volunteers  to  aid  King.  King 's  command 
was  destroyed  and  about  one  hundred  of  Ward's  men  suc- 
ceeded in  retreating  to  Victoria,  where  they  were  cap- 
tured on  March  22nd,  and  sent  back  to  Goliad  to  be  shot 
with  Fannin's  men. 

After  making  many  plans  and  abandoning  them  all,  poor 
Fannin  attempted  at  the  last  hour  to  retreat  from  Goliad, 
and  succeeded  in  getting  some  miles  when  they  halted  in  an 
open  prairie,  in  a  depression  away  from  shelter  or  water, 
and  were  surrounded  by  Mexicans  and  attacked  on  all 
sides. 

Here  the  battle  of  Coleto  Was  fought,  where  the  Texans 
defended  themselves  with  great  bravery,  but  without  ammu- 
nition or  artillery,  they  were  soon  at  the  mercy  of  Urrea 's 
men,  and  a  parley  was  opened  for  their  surrender.  On 
March  20th  they  surrendered,  the  terms  being : 

138 


GOLIAD 

1.  That  they  surrender  at  discretion. 

2.  That  the  wounded  and  their  commander  Fannin  be 
treated  with  all  consideration  possible. 

3.  That  the  whole  detachment  be  treated  as  prisoners  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Supreme  Government. 

They  were  removed  to  Goliad,  where  they  were  held  in 
captivity  along  with  a  command  of  men  from  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  under  Colonel  Miller,  who  had  been  captured  as 
they  landed  at  Copano. 

Urrea,  who  had  gone  to  Victoria,  left  orders  that  the 
prisoners  be  treated  humanely,  but  His  Excellency  remem- 
bered that  the  Supreme  Government  had  passed  a  decree 
that  all  foreigners  taken  in  arms  should  be  excuted  as 
pirates,  and  under  his  orders  the  entire  command  were 
marched  out  at  dawn  on  March  27th,  and  shot  to  death. 

The  gruesome  details  of  this  massacre  have  so  often  been 
told  that  they  need  not  be  repeated  here.  About  twenty  of 
them  were  spared,  most  of  whom  were  physicians  and  who 
were  thought  of  some  possible  use.  Thirty-four  escaped  in 
various  ways — three  hundred  and  sixty-four  fell. 

J.  C.  Duval,  who  escaped  by  dashing  away  as  they  fired, 
wrote  a  very  interesting  account  of  it  in  later  years,  and  re- 
lates that  among  the  prisoners  in  the  Kentucky  Company  to 
which  he  belonged,  was  a  young  man  who  had  been  a  room- 
mate at  college  in  Kentucky  with  a  Mexican  officer  in  Ur- 
rea's  command,  that  these  young  men  found  each  other 
and  the  Mexican  officer  professed  sympathy  and  kindness 
for  his  former  boyhood  friend,  but  made  not  the  slightest 
effort  to  assist  him  or  save  him,  and  saw  him  shot  to  death 
without  any  apparent  concern. 


139 


THE  RUNAWAY  SCRAPE 
XVII. 

THE  RUNAWAY  SCRAPE. 

The  colonists  returning  to  their  homes  after  the  battle  in 
April  always  spoke  lightly  of  the  retreat  as  the  "  Runaway 
Scrape." 

An  eyewitness  who  was  in  Gonzales  on  the  evening  of  the 
eighth  of  March  tells  of  the  terror  which  was  inspired  by 
the  news  of  the  butchery  at  the  Alamo.  Many  of  the  vic- 
tims were  from  DeWitt's  Colony,  and  the  twilight  was 
filled  with  the  screams  of  women  and  fatherless  children 
bereft  by  that  disaster.  When  General  Houston  reached 
Gonzales  on  March  llth,  he  found  three  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-four men  half  fed,  half  clad,  half  armed  and  unorgan- 
ized. Every  wagon  available  but  one  was  employed  in  mov- 
ing the  women  and  children,  for  all  Texas  began  to  move 
eastward.  One  wagon  with  four  oxen  was  devoted  to  tht? 
removal  of  the  munitions  of  war,  and  it  was  not  over- 
loaded. 

As  the  retreat  from  Gonzales  proceeded,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  reinforcements  came  up  at  Peach  Creek,  but 
news  of  the  Alamo  caused  twenty-five  of  them  to  desert  the 
same  night. 

When  the  retreat  reached  the  Colorado,  there  were  five 
hundred  men  with  Houston,  but  they  had  no  artillery,  not 
a  cartridge  or  a  ball.  When  they  reached  Nevada  Creek 
they  heard  that  a  blind  mother  with  six  children  had  been 
left  some  miles  below  and  a  detachment  was  sent  to  bring 
her  away. 

The  "army"  halted  at  the  Colorado  until  all  fugitives  had 
crossed.  On  the  Colorado  news  came  of  Fannin's  fall  at 
Goliad,  and  a  detachment  of  the  Mexican  army  under  Ses- 

140 


THE  RUNAWAY  SCRAPE 

ma  came  in  sight  on  the  western  bank  of  the  river.  There 
was  an  expectation  that  certain  ordnance  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Brazos  would  reach  the  camp  at  the  Colorado.  With- 
out it  Houston  dared  not  risk  a  battle,  and  we  now  know 
that  a  battle  with  Sesma  would  have  decided  nothing.  The 
army  as  well  as  the  whole  population  of  Texas  fell  back 
to  the  Brazos.  The  men  with  Houston  were  in  a  bad  hu- 
mor. He  had  taken  no  one  into  his  confidence,  and  in  fact 
never  did  do  so  until  the  very  last.  At  times  it  seemed  as 
though  there  would  be  open  mutiny  and  that  the  whole 
command  would  go  to  pieces,  and  this  would  no  doubt  have 
resulted  but  for  the  constant  pressure  of  the  invading  army, 
whicE  now  approached  San  Felipe.  In  fact  there  was  very 
little  command,  and  heavy  April  rains  retarded  both  armies. 
Houston  effected  a  crossing  of  the  Brazos  some  miles  north 
of  San  Felipe,  but  the  Mexican  army  could  not  follow  for 
the  awful  condition  of  the  ground  and  dropped  down  to 
Richmond,  where  an  advance  guard  under  Santa  Anna 
crossed. 

There  have  come  down  to  us  some  graphic  pictures  of 
tHose  days  which  intervened  between  the  fall  of  the  Alamo 
and  San  Jacinto.  In  the  first  volume  of  the  Texas  Histori- 
cal Quarterly,  Mrs.  Rosa  Kleburg,  who  was,  at  the  time  she 
related  the  incidents,  eighty-five  years  old,  tells  a  story 
which  will  fairly  illustrate  the  plight  and  flight  of  all 
Texas.  Her  husband  and  brothers  joined  the  army,  and  the 
women  in  the  family,  with  the  father,  migrated  towards  the 
east. 

"Most  of  the  families  travelled  separately  until  they 
reached  the  Brazos,  where  all  were  compelled  to  halt  for  a 
crossing.  I  helped  drive  the  cattle  and  carried  my  infant 
daughter  in  the  saddle  before  me.  When  the  families  and 
their  horses  and  cattle  reached  the  crossing,  the  noise  was 

141 


THE  RUNAWAY  SCRAPE 

terrible.  There  was  only  one  small  ferry  boat,  which  would 
carry  one  vehicle  at  a  time.  Deaf  Smith 's  Mexican  wife  was 
in  a  truck  wheeled  cart,  a  cart  with  two  wooden  wheels  made 
from  an  entire  cross  section  of  a  large  tree,  with  her  two 
pairs  of  twins,  but  had  no  team  to  pull  her  cart.  My 
brother  carried  her  for  a  distance  with  his  yoke  of  oxen. 
The  next  day  after  we  crossed  over  the  Brazos,  we  camped 
near  Clear  Creek,  where  Louis  V.  Reader,  my  brother's 
child,  was  born  in  a  corn  crib." 

The  Government  ad  interim  which  was  organized  at 
Washington  on  the  Brazos  left  for  Harrisburg,  hurried  by 
the  report  that  Sesma's  army  was  aproaching.  President 
Burnet  sent  back  hurried  messages  to  Houston  to  stop  his 
retreat  and  fight,  but  continued  to  retreat  until  he  reached 
Galveston  Island.  And  indeed  he  only  escaped  by  a  hair's 
breadth,  for  as  he  pulled  off  from  Lynchburg  in  a  skiff, 
Mexican  soldiers  were  in  sight  and  hastened  his  voyage 
with  some  target  practice. 

Gail  and  Thomas  H.  Borden  published  a  paper  at  San 
Felipe  known  as  the  Texas  Telegraph  &  Register.  It  played 
a  conspicuous  part  in  those  troubled  days.  As  the  Mexican 
army  approached  San  Felipe,  the  town  was  deserted  and 
destroyed,  and  the  Borden  printing  business,  loaded  on  an 
ox-wagon,  started  across  the  water  logged  prairie  for  Har- 
risburg, following  the  fugitive  footsteps  of  the  fleeing  Gov- 
ernment ad  interim. 

On  April  14th,  it  was  temporarily  housed  at  Harrisburg, 
and  as  there  was  no  hostile  army  in  sight,  the  plucky  pub- 
lishers, delayed  by  this  removal,  started  their  weekly  paper 
with  an  apology  for  the  delay  and  the  reassuring  salutation, 
"Our  subscribers  on  hearing  the  ruin  of  San  Felipe  and 
seeing  the  delay  in  the  appearance  of  our  paper,  have  per- 
haps thought  it  at  an  end." 

142 


THE  RUNAWAY  SCRAPE 

After  recounting  the  difficulties  in  the  way  and  the  great 
need  of  a  newspaper  just  at  this  time  the  weekly  publica- 
ion  under  date  of  April  14th,  was  begun.  It  recounts  the 
doleful  news  that  the  Mexicans  had  scoured  the  country  as 
far  as  the  Brazos,  with  an  army  at  San  Felipe,  and  one  at 
Brazoria,  while  the  central  division  had  crossed  at  Rich- 
mond. Just  here  the  April  14th  edition  of  the  paper  stops, 
for  at  this  point  advance  scouting  parties  of  Santa  Anna's 
army  were  reported  near  Harrisburg,  and  Borden  took  a 
few  copies  of  so  much  of  the  paper  as  had  been  struck  off 
and  moved  on.  There  are  a  half  dozen  or  more  copies  of 
this  half  finished  edition  of  April  14th:  yet  in  existence. 
His  press  was  destroyed,  and  I  have  it  from  the  Borden 
family  that  they  threw  it  in  the  Bayou* to  prevent  its  fall- 
ing into  Mexican  hands. 

There  was  a  further  suspension  of  the  publication  from 
April  14th,  but  on  August  2nd,  these  same  indomitable 
Bordens  published  the  next  issue  at  Columbia,  where  the 
Government  ad  interim  was  then  sojourning  and  the  next 
year  they  followed  the  new  Government  to  Houston,  where 
the  paper  was  published  for  many  years. 

All  Texas  was  now  east  of  the  Brazos.  The  Mexican 
army  had  been  divided  into  divisions,  which  swept  the 
country  north  as  far  as  the  San  Antonio-Nacogdoches  Road, 
south  along  the  coast,  while  His  Excellency  with  what  he 
called  the  flower  of  the  army  hurried  along  in  advance  and 
crossed  the  Brazos  at  Fort  Bend,  and  pushed  on  after  the 
fleeing  provisional  Government. 

The  only  armed  force  which  the  Texans  had,  if  indeed  it 
could  be  called  such,  was  the  disorganized,  unhappy,  for- 
lorn few  hundred  with  Houston,  who  were  pulling  across 
the  muddy  prairies  from  San  Felipe. 

General  Houston,  grim  and  silent,  seemed  heading  for 

143 


SAN  JACINTO 

the  Red  Lands,  and  thousands  of  fleeing  families  hurried 
their  weary  way  on  across  the  Trinity.  These  fugitives 
returned  home  in  April,  after  the  battle,  and  most  of  them 
planted  a  crop  and  reaped  a  harvest  in  that  year. 


XVIII. 
SAN  JACINTO. 

After  the  fall  of  the  Alamo,  Santa  Anna  planned  to  re- 
turn to  Mexico  and  leave  the  minor  incidents  of  the  fur- 
ther campaign  to  Filisola,  but  was  dissuaded  by  Almonte, 
and  decided  to  come  on  further  east.  He  sent  Sesma's  di- 
vision after  Houston's  retreating  army  on  the  Colorado, 
with  instructions  to  march  via  San  Felipe  and  Harris- 
burg  to  Anahuac,  where  they  would  be  embarked  for  home 
by  sea.  He  sent  Gaona  direct  to  Nacogdoches.  He  did  not 
seem  to  contemplate  any  serious  opposition  anywhere. 

Colonel  Morales,  with  four  companies,  were  sent  to  Goliad 
to  join  Urrea's  army,  which  had  come  into  Texas  by  Mata- 
moros,  and  which  was  then  engaged  with  Fannin,  Grant, 
Johnson  and  King.  His  Excellency  left  Bexar  for  San  Fe- 
lipe March  29th,  where  he  arrived  on  April  7th.  Houston's 
little  army  had  abandoned  San  Felipe  a  week  before  going 
up  the  river  to  Groce  's.  The  Mexicans  would  have  followed 
but  for  high  water.  The  Brazos  bottom  was  as  kind  as  the 
Ked  Sea,  in  that  it  allowed  Houston's  army  to  retreat  but 
was  impassable  for  the  invading  army  to  follow.  Santa  An- 
na, unable  to  follow  or  cross  the  river  at  San  Felipe,  moved 
down  to  Richmond.  Houston  crossed  at  Groce 's  on  the  13th, 
and  took  up  his  march  across  the  wet  roadless  prairie  al- 


144 


SAN  JACINTO 

most  south  towards  Harrisburg.  On  the  14th,  Santa  Anna 
crossed  the  Brazos  at  Richmond,  riding  hard  with  six  hun- 
dred picked  men  for  Harrisburg,  where  he  hoped  to  cap- 
ture President  Burnet  and  the  Government  ad  interim. 

He  was  in  great  good  humor,  and  as  they  crossed  Oyster 
Creek  near  where  Sugarland  now  stands,  he  enjoyed  the 
noise  and  confusion  that  the  cavalry  made  as  it  floundered 
in  the  "Muddy  Squshy  Creek."  As  the  mules  and  mule- 
teers floundered  in  the  mire  and  the  drivers  swore  as  mule 
drivers  have  always  done,  His  Excellency  sat  on  his  horse 
and  laughed  as  though  it  was  all  improvised  for  his  amuse- 
ment. 

One  cannot  overlook  the  contrast  in  these  two  armies  as 
they  converged  across  the  prairies.  His  Excellency,  flushed 
with  victory,  rode  with  a  shining  staff  accompanied  by  such 
men  as  Almonte  and  Castrillion.  It  was  a  kind  of  holiday 
excursion  for  him,  for  this  was  his  first  (and  last)  visit  to 
Texas.  The  little  Texas  army,  if  in  fact  it  can  be  called 
such,  consisted  of  fewer  than  1,000  tired,  hungry  men, 
many  of  whom  had  not  eaten  an  adequate  meal  for  weeks. 
On  the  night  before  they  crossed  the  bayou,  Houston  slept 
on  the  ground  in  his  wet  clothes,  with  a  saddle  for  a  pillow, 
while  a  keen  April  norther  added  to  the  discomfort. 

The  Mexicans  reached  Harrisburg  on  the  night  of  the 
15th,  and  left  the  next  day  to  scour  the  country  down  to 
the  bay,  intending  to  cross  the  bayou  and  the  river  above 
their  confluence  and  go  on  to  Nacogdoches  or  Anahuac. 
Santa  Anna  sent  Houston  word  by  a  negro  that  as  soon  as 
he  cleaned  out  the  land  thieves,  meaning  the  Government 
officials,  and  probably  the  people  east  of  the  Trinity,  he 
would  pay  his  respects  to  Houston. 

A  more  foolhardy  plan  than  Santa  Anna  had  devised 
could  not  well  be  imagined.  He  had  come  into  Texas  with 

145 


SAN  JACINTO 

more  than  seven  thousand  five  hundred  men,  and  the  morn- 
ing of  the  sixteenth  when  he  rode  out  to  Harrisburg  going 
down  to  the  bay  with  only  about  six  hundred  men,  his  forces 
were  scattered  in  small  divisions  all  the  way  to  Bexar. 

Urrea  was  coming  along  the  coast  from  Goliad  with 
one  thousand  five  hundred  men.  Gaona  was  near  LaGrange 
with  seven  hundred  and  fifty.  Sesma  was  on  the  Brazos 
at  Fort  Bend  with  one  thousand.  Filisola,  with  nearly 
two  thousand,  was  coming  down  the  river  from  San  Felipe 
seeking  a  crossing.  Cos  with  five  hundred  was  trying  to 
keep  up  with  the  mad  fool  who  with  his  fleetest  cavalry 
was  dashing  across  the  prairie  after  the  Government. 

Houston  learned  definitely  on  the  18th  that  the  advance 
force  had  passed  Harrisburg,  and  that  Santa  Anna  was 
with  it,  and  the  Texas  army  crossed  from  the  north  side 
of  the  bayou  on  the  19th  and  pushed  on  down  to  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  bayou  with  the  San  Jacinto  River,  where  it 
camped. 

This  point  was  chosen  to  prevent  Santa  Anna  from  cross- 
ing further  up. 

It  has  been  charged  that  General  Houston  never  in- 
tended to  fight;  that  he  expected  to  continue  his  retreat 
to  the  Red  Lands  with  the  hope  of  getting  help  from  the 
troops  under  General  Gaines  of  the  United  States  army, 
who  were  camped  at  the  border,  and  many  of  whom  were 
eager  to  get  into  this  fight.  It  is  evident  that  Houston 
hoped  for  help  from  East  Texas  which  never  came.  Just 
before  crossing  the  bayou  for  the  purpose  of  going  after 
Santa  Anna,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Henry  Rouget  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety  at  Nacogdoches,  deploring  the  fact 
that  no  help  had  come  from  the  Red  Lands  and  announcing 
that  he  was  now  about  to  cross  the  bayou  for  the  purpose 
of  attacking  Santa  Anna 's  army.  It  has  been  charged  that 


146 


SAN  JACINTO 

the  battle  ground  was  selected  by  accident,  and  the  most 
disadvantageous  point  that  could  have  been  found  along  the 
bayou.  This  is  not  true.  In  the  first  place  it  is  high  ground 
on  the  banks  of  the  river.  Then  again  it  was  in  the  edge 
of  a  woods  which  gave  a  commanding  view  of  the  prairies 
across  which  it  was  necessary  for  the  Mexican  army  to  ap- 
proach. 

On  the  morning  of  April  20,  that  portion  of  Santa  Anna 's 
army  which  had  been  scouring  the  bay  shore,  turned  back 
toward  the  bayou  and  came  in  sight  of  the  Texas  army 
camping  in  the  woods,  which  can  be  seen  probably  a  mile 
away  from  the  monuments  on  what  we  call  the  battle  ground. 
On  the  morning  of  the  21st,  Cos  with  his  detachment  of 
something  more  than  five  hundred  men,  joined  the  com- 
mand, swelling  the  Mexican  forces  to  something  over  one 
thousand  five  hundred  men.  There  was  much  complaint 
and  criticism  among  Houston's  men  and  no  little  distrust 
of  him  had  arisen  among  his  under  officers.  From  the 
time  he  left  Gonzales  until  this  hour,  he  had  communicated 
his  designs  to  no  one,  and  his  silence  gave  weight  to  the 
thought  that  he  had  no  defined  plans  and  that  he  did  not 
intend  to  fight.  He  held  a  council  of  war  with  his  under 
officers  on  the  forenoon  of  the  21st,  in  which  it  was  warm- 
ly debated  whether  they  should  attack  the  enemy  or  await 
the  enemy's  attack.  It  was  urged  that  the  Mexican  army 
was  composed  of  veteran  soldiers,  and  it  was  known  that 
very  few  of  the  Texans  had  ever  seen  other  than  Indian 
warfare.  Houston  got  the  ideas  of  those  present,  but  did 
not  express  himself  at  this  council  meeting.  It  was  nearly 
4  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  the  21st  before  he  finally 
gave  the  order  to  Colonel  John  A.  Wharton,  the  Judge 
Advocate  General,  and  instructed  him  to  form  the  army  for 
an  immediate  offensive.  If  this  order  had  not  been  given 

147 


SAN  JACINTO 

at  4  o'clock,  there  would  have  been  a  mutiny  before  sun- 
down. The  army  and  its  leaders  were  on  the  point  of  forc- 
ing the  issue.  The  excitement  was  intense,  and  if  in- 
deed the  grim  old  Cherokee  Chief  had  a  design  to  work  his 
men  up  to  a  point  of  frenzy  for  a  fight,  he  managed  it 
extremely  well. 

There  were  seven  hundred  and  eighty-three  men  in  the 
battle  line  when  it  was  formed  on  the  high  ground  within  a 
few  hundred  feet  of  the  banks  of  the  bayou.  These  forces 
facing  each  other  across  the  distance  of  no  more  than  a 
mile,  were  alien  races  that  had  clashed  before  in  the  cen- 
turies gone  by. 

As  they  fronted  each  other  this  day,  they  were  in  the 
struggle  for  the  boundary  line  of  distinct  civilizations. 
Upon  the  discovery  of  the  Americas,  the  Spaniard,  by  his 
explorations  and  bloody  conquest,  had  fastened  his  domin- 
ion, his  language  and  his  laws  on  all  South  America, 
and  at  one  time  his  claims  covered  more  than  half  of  North 
America.  Even  after  the  Spanish  cession  of  Louisiana  to 
France  and  the  relinquishment  of  Florida  to  the  United 
States,  Spain  yet  held  Mexico,  and  it  included  Texas  and 
the  vast  country  to  the  northwest  to  the  42nd  parallel  upon 
the  Pacific.  In  North  America,  England  had  become  the 
dominant  power,  and  here  on  this  April  day  there  came  the 
clash  of  Latin  with  Saxon  sovereignty. 

Sam  Houston,  Sidney  Sherman,  Tom  Rusk,  Edward  Bur- 
leson,  John  Wharton  and  hundreds  bearing  English  names 
and  of  English  ancestry,  were  opposed  to  Antonio  Lopez  de 
Santa  Anna,  Castrillion,  Juan  Nepomuceno  Almonte,  Pedro 
Delegado  and  others  bearing  high  sounding  Spanish  names. 
The  ancestors  of  these  combatants  had  fought  each  other 
when  the  Spanish  Armada  sailed  into  the  northern  seas  to 
work  the  destruction  of  England.  And  now  they  were 

148 


FAREWELL  TO  SANTA  ANNA 

come  to  grips  in  the  contest  for  a  land  larger  than  the 
Continental  Empire  of  Charles  V,  with  the  British  Islands 
thrown  in.  One  million  square  miles  of  river  and  forest, 
mountain  and  plain  were  lost  to  his  Imperial  Highness  at 
sundown  that  day. 

The  destruction  of  the  Mexican  army  was  complete.  San- 
ta Anna,  Almonte  and  Cos  were  captured,  and  Castrillion, 
who  led  the  charge  at  the  Alamo,  was  among  the  slain. 
Houston,  on  the  25th,  made  his  official  report  advising  that 
our  losses  were  two  killed  and  twenty-three  wounded,  six 
mortally. 

Among  the  severely  wounded  was  Alphonso  Steele,  who 
was  shot  through  the  lungs.  Seventy-four  years  later, 
I  met  him  on  the  battle  field — then  the  last  survivor  of  the 
conflict.  He  related  to  me  how  he  was  shot  down  and 
thought  his  wound  mortal,  and  that  with  a  dying  madness 
he  took  a  fallen  gun  and  killed  a  Mexican  soldier  who  came 
within  his  range  and  then  crawled  to  the  rear  to  die,  which 
he  did  seventy-five  years  after. 


XIX. 
FAREWELL  TO  SANTA  ANNA. 

Santa  Anna  was  a  coward,  and  however  much  one  searches 
his  long  career  of  more  than  seventy  years  of  active  life 
for  evidences  of  personal  bravery  or  integrity,  little  trace 
of  either  will  be  found.  One  of  his  staff  officers  who  after- 
wards wrote  an  account  of  the  battle  describes  the  Texas 
charge,  and  says : 

' '  Then  I  saw  His  Excellency  running  about  in  the  ut- 
most excitement,  wringing  his  hands,  unable  to  give  an 

149 


FAREWELL  TO  SANTA  ANNA 

order."  Unable  to  give  an  order,  nevertheless  he  did  not 
wait  for  one  to  retreat,  but  left  the  field  mounted  on  a 
splendid  black  stallion  which  had  been  taken  from  the 
Vince  Ranch  a  few  days  before.  In  an  effort  to  cross  Vince 
Bayou,  the  horse  was  mired  so  that  the  President  had  to 
abandon  him  and  continue  his  journey  on  foot.  Houston 
had  sent  Deaf  Smith  just  before  the  battle  began  to  destroy 
the  Bridge  over  Vince  Bayou,  across  which  the  fleeing 
Mexicans  now  tried  to  escape ;  but  for  this  Santa  Anna  on  a 
fresh  horse  would  have  escaped  and  joined  Filisola's  com- 
mand on  the  Brazos.  In  a  report  which  was  made  to  his 
government  some  years  later,  he  says,  "I  alighted  from  my 
horse  and  concealed  myself  in  a  thicket  -of  dwarf  pines. 
Night  came  on  and  I  crossed  the  creek  with  water  up  to  my 
waist.  I  found  a  house  which  had  been  abandoned  and 
some  articles  of  clothing  which  enabled  me  to  change  my 
apparel.  At  11  o'clock  a.  m.  (the  next  day)  I  was  crossing 
a  large  plain  and  my  pursuers  overtook  me." 

The  next  morning  various  parties  were  scouring  the 
prairie  picking  up  Mexican  prisoners  and  all  on  the  lookout 
for  Santa  Anna  and  Cos. 

James  A.  Sylvester,  who  had  come  with  volunteers  from 
Ohio  and  who  had  worked  as  a  printer  on  a  Cincinnati  pa- 
per, relates  that,  "  We  were  near  the  bridge  on  Vince  Bayou, 
and  I  saw  some  deer  and  rode  nearer  to  get  a  shot  at  them, 
when  they  started.  I  looked  to  see  what  had  frightened  them 
and  saw  a  Mexican  going  toward  the  bayou." 

Not  suspecting  who  he  was,  they  took  him  into  the  camp, 
but  his  fellow  countrymen  recognized  him  in  his  disguise 
and  from  their  exclamations  when  they  saw  him,  his  iden- 
tity became  known. 

He  readily  agreed  to  issue  an  order  to  General  Filisola, 
next  in  command,  to  retire  to  Victoria.  "I  have  agreed 


150 


FAREWELL  TO  SANTA  ANNA 

with  General  Houston  for  an  armistice  until  matters  can 
be  so  regulated  that  the  war  shall  cease  forever. ' ' 

The  Government  ad  interim,  which  retreated  as  far  as 
Galveston  Island,  now  reported  for  duty,  and  on  May  14th 
concluded  two  treaties  with  Santa  Anna,  one  of  which 
was  published,  the  other  being  a  secret  treaty.  The  open 
treaty  provided  that  all  hostilities  should  cease  and  that 
Santa  Anna  would  not  * '  exercise  his  influence  to  cause  arms 
to  be  taken  up  against  the  people  of  Texas  during  the  pres- 
ent war  for  independence." 

In  the  secret  treaty,  he  bound  himself  to  ''so  prepare 
things  in  the  Cabinet  of  Mexico  that  the  mission  sent  thither 
by  the  Government  of  Texas  may  well  be  received,  and  that 
by  means  of  negotiations  all  differences  may  be  settled  and 
independence  acknowledged."  The  Rio  Grande  was  to  be 
the  boundary,  and  Santa  Anna  was  to  be  sent  home  at  once 
via  Vera  Cruz. 

These  treaties  were  executed  at  Velasco  and  within  less 
than  three  weeks  after  they  were  made,  plans  had  been 
completed  for  sending  the  captive  President  home,  and  on 
June  3,  1836,  he  and  his  suite  had  embarked  on  the  schooner 
"Invincible"  at  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos  and  were  ready 
to  sail,  and  he  had  issued  a  friendly  farewell  to  Texas  and 
the  Texans. 

Just  before  the  vessel  sailed,  a  steamer  arrived  from  New 
Orleans  bearing  two  hundred  and  fifty  volunteer  soldiers, 
who  had  come  to  take  part  in  the  Revolution.  They  at 
once  determined  that  Santa  Anna  should  not  be  liberated, 
and  forcibly  took  him  in  charge,  defying  the  Government 
and  setting  aside  as  it  were  the  treaties  of  Velasco.  He  was 
taken  up  to  the  Phelps  plantation  at  Orozimbo,  where  he 
was  held  until  the  following  November. 

This  ruffianism  of  our  new  friends  is  a  chapter  in  our 

151 


FAREWELL  TO  SANTA  ANNA 

history  which,  like  the  land  frauds  of  1835,  we  would  like 
to  forget. 

When  the  first  Congress  met  in  October,  what  to  do  with 
Santa  Anna  was  one  of  the  live  questions,  and  one  can  well 
imagine  how  a  legislative  assembly  would  approach  such 
a  topic.  He  was  prosecuted  in  the  Senate  and  the  House, 
and  the  speeches  of  Mosely  Baker,  Stephen  H.  Everett,  the 
Senator  from  Jasper,  Vice-President  Lamar  and  others,  who 
would  have  hanged  him,  are  powerful  arraignments  of  his 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors.  While  the  debate  still  ran 
high,  President  Houston  assumed  authority  to  cut  it  short 
by  sending  the  captive  home  via  Washington.  On  Novem- 
ber 20,  1836,  he  and  Almonte  left  the  Brazos  for  New  Or~ 
leans  escorted  by  Bernard  E.  Bee,  George  W.  Hockley  and 
Wm.  H.  Patton.  At  New  Orleans,  Bee  arranged  for  Santa 
Anna  to  cash  a  draft  on  Mexico  for  $1,000.00  to  pay  his  ex- 
penses, and  he  permitted  this  draft  to  be  protested,  nor 
was  it  paid  after  his  return  home. 

He  went  to  Washington  and  conferred  with  President 
Jackson.  While  he  was  in  the  Capital,  the  Mexican  Minister 
formally  advised  the  Washington  Government  that  Santa 
Anna  was  no  longer  President  of  Mexico,  and  that  his  coun- 
try would  not  be  bound  by  any  act  or  agreement  of  his. 

After  a  very  short  stay  in  Washington,  he  sailed  for 
Vera  Cruz,  and  once  at  home  he  promptly  resumed  his  ca- 
reer of  intrigue,  and  with  varied  fortunes  he  figured  in 
Mexican  matters  for  many  a  year. 


152 


THE  PASSING  OF  AUSTIN 

XX. 
THE  PASSING  OF  AUSTIN. 

The  construction  of  a  new  Government  involved  a  vast 
amount  of  labor  and  detail,  and  a  very  large  part  of  this 
work  fell  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  he  entered  upon 
his  labors  with  his  usual  industry. 

It  was  now  fifteen  years  since  he  first  rode  down  into 
the  Colorado-Brazos  country  to  select  a  site  for  his  first 
Colony,  and  since  he  lead  the  advance  of  his  old  three  hun- 
dred into  the  wilderness.  He  was  only  twenty-eight  then. 
He  had  given  these  fifteen  years  to  the  enterprise,  to  the 
neglect  of  all  else.  For  years  he  was  the  law  of  the  Colonies, 
and  his  firm,  modest  manhood  had  won  for  him  and  his 
people  the  respect  of  Mexico.  He  hoped  to  live  in  peace 
under  the  Mexican  Government,  and  was  one  of  the  few 
men  in  Texas  who  cherished  the  hope  that  Texas  could 
and  would  remain  a  part  of  the  Mexican  Republic.  A  free 
people  have  ever  been  prone  to  cruelty  and  ingratitude  to- 
wards those  who  have  served  them  best.  Athens  banished 
Aristides  the  Just,  as  one  of  the  Athenians  put  it,  because 
he  was  tired  of  hearing  him  called  the  Just. 

The  Romans  drove  Cicero  into  exile,  though  the  very 
best  that  now  remains  of  the  Roman  literature  and  thought 
comes  to  us  from  the  tongue  and  pen  of  Cicero.  The  history 
of  our  own  country  teems  with  conspicuous  examples  of  men 
who  have  given  their  lives  to  the  public  service,  and  have 
been  scourged  into  poverty  and  neglect  in  their  old  age. 

Austin  had  been  abused  for  ten  years  because  he  would 
not  lend  himself  to  mad  schemes  for  a  separation  of  Texas 
from  Mexico.  He  was  a  reticent,  silent  man,  and  often 
misunderstood.  William  H.  Wharton  was  his  bitter  enemy, 

153 


THE  PASSING  OF  AUSTIN 

and  had  often  said  ugly  things  about  him.  They  were  rec- 
onciled at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  and  went  to- 
gether as  Commissioners  to  the  States  and  became  fast 
friends. 

Upon  their  return  in  June,  1836,  Wharton  solicited  him 
to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  He  was  a  man 
of  prodigious  energy.  Almost  at  once  after  his  return  in 
June  he  took  active  steps  to  protect  East  Texas  against 
Indian  depredations,  and  was  the  instrument  of  procuring 
soldiers  from  the  American  Army  to  be  stationed  at  Nacog- 
doches. 

He  was  not  disgruntled  by  the  fact  that  he  only  received 
a  few  hundred  votes  for  the  presidency,  and-  gladly  accepted 
a  place  with  the  administration,  willing  to  help  work 
out  the  national  destiny  of  Texas,  for  Texas  was  his  life 
labor  and  love.  He  had  no  family,  and  like  Washington, 
Providence  left  him  childless  that  his  people  might  call  him 
"  Father." 

During  his  long  imprisonment  in  Mexico  in  1834,  and 
1835,  Santa  Anna  was  in  power,  and  on  one  occasion  during 
this  time  had  Austin  brought  out  of  prison  for  a  conference 
regarding  Texas  affairs,  and  when  the  conference  was  over 
the  jailer  escorted  him  back  to  the  bastile.  And  now  a  short 
year  later  when  Austin  returned  from  the  States,  Santa 
Anna  was  a  prisoner  at  the  Phelps  plantation  down  in 
Brazoria,  and  Austin  went  to  Orozimbo  to  confer  with  him 
about  Texas  affairs.  When  the  conference  was  over,  Austin 
rode  back  to  his  home  at  Peach  Point  and  left  his  Imperial 
Highness  in  captivity. 

As  Secretary  of  State,  his  work  required  a  vast  amount  of 
correspondence,  which  he  conducted  without  the  aid  of  an 
assistant.  There  were  no  typewriters  or  stenographers  in 
those  days,  and  when  papers  were  written  in  duplicate  as 

154 


THE  PASSING  OF  AUSTIN 

State  papers  must  be,  they  were  most  laboriously  copied  just 
as  they  were  first  written. 

The  old  State  House  at  Columbia  was  little  better  than 
a  barn,  and  here  in  a  bare  room,  by  the  dim  light  of  a  flick- 
ering candle,  he  worked  and  wrote  far  into  each  night,  pre- 
paring papers  with  instructions  to  our  ministers  and  en- 
voys, who  were  being  sent  on  various  missions  far  and  wide. 
He  sat  on  a  chair  with  a  rawhide  bottom,  and  when  the  chill 
of  the  December  night  crept  into  the  fireless  room  he  gath- 
ered his  cloak  about  his  frail  form  and  worked  on,  for  there 
was  much  to  do,  and  no  other  man  living  knew  as  much  of 
Texas  needs  and  affairs  as  the  Secretary  of  State. 

Just  before  the  close  of  the  year  he  sickened,  and  on 
December  27th  he  died  of  pneumonia.  In  the  hours  of  his 
dying  delirium,  he  lived  over  again  the  years  that  had  gone 
before  and  his  last  words  were,  ' '  Texas  has  been  admitted. ' ' 

And  this  brings  us  to  the  close  of  his  eventful  life,  and  the 
all-eventful  year  in  Texas  history.  The  Alamo  had  fallen 
March  6th;  Fannin  fell  at  Goliad  on  March  27th;  San 
Jacinto  was  won  on  April  21st.  Houston  was  elected  Presi- 
dent on  September  3rd.  The  first  Congress  met  on  Octo- 
ber 3rd.  And  in  the  last  days  of  the  year  the  great  white 
soul  of  Austin  went  back  to  God  who  gave  it. 


155 


THE  REPUBLIC 

i. 

THE  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS. 

How  strange  and  romantic  the  name  sounds  to  this  gener- 
ation. Legally  it  began  with  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence on  March  2,  1836,  but  its  existence  was  not  assured 
until  the  Battle  of  San  Jacinto  in  April.  The  span  of 
its  life  ended  on  February  19,  1846,  when  it  became  a 
State  in  the  American  Union  after  a  national  life  of  ten 
stormy  years. 

When  Santa  Anna  was  brought  in  a  prisoner  the  morn- 
ing after  the  battle,  he  issued  an  order  to  his  scattered  gen- 
erals to  fall  back,  pending  negotiations  for  peace.  The 
Provisional  Government  chosen  by  the  Washington  conven- 
tion in  March  continued  to  function  pending  an  election 
which  was  ordered  held  in  September.  Burnet,  the  Pres- 
ident ad  interim,  and  his  advisors,  concluded  the  treaties  of 
Velasco  with  the  captive  President  on  May  14,  1836,  by 
which  he  agreed  to  use  his  endeavors  to  secure  the  recogni- 
tion of  Texas  Independence  with  the  Rio  Grande  as  a 
boundary.  This  treaty  was  assented  to  by  General  Filisola, 
commanding  the  forces,  and  the  invasion  which  had  come 
with  such  pomp  and  circumstance  in  March,  sadly  subsided 
in  May,  leaving  His  Imperial  Highness  a  hostage  for  the 
good  behavior  of  this  country.  The  constitution  which  had 
been  adopted  in  March  was  resurrected  and  submitted  to 
the  people  for  ratification  at  the  September  election,  at 
which  time  the  question  of  annexation  with  the  United 

157 


THE  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS 

States  was  also  submitted  and  a  President,  Vice-President 
and  Congress  chosen. 

The  constitution  was  ratified ;  Houston  was  chosen  Presi- 
dent almost  by  acclamation  over  Austin  and  Henry  Smith, 
who  received  only  a  few  hundred  votes  each.  Lamar  was 
elected  Vice-President,  and  only  eighty-nine  votes  were 
cast  against  annexation.  When  we  recall  how  diligently 
tHe  Adams  and  Jackson  administrations  had  wrought  for 
years  to  accomplish  the  purchase  of  Texas,  we  would  sup- 
pose that  the  Washington  Government  would  have  imme- 
diately accepted  this  offer,  and  that  annexation  would  have 
been  accomplished  in  a  few  months  at  the  fartherest.  But 
for  the  first  and  last  time  in  his  long  life,  Jackson  became  a 
conservative,  and  the  independence  of  Texas  was  not  even 
recognized  until  nearly  a  year  after  San  Jacinto  (March 
1837).  The  question  of  annexation  is  a  chapter  within  itself, 
and  when  once  fairly  involved  in  American  politics  was  de- 
layed a  decade.  Meanwhile  the  Republic  of  Texas  moved  on 
to  its  destiny.  Houston  was  a  great  executive.  He  chose  both 
Austin  and  Henry  Smith  for  his  Cabinet  and  the  new  ad- 
ministration assumed  control  in  October.  The  first  Con- 
gress of  the  Republic  met  at  Columbia  on  the  Brazos  in  a 
barn  like  building,  which  was  destroyed  in  the  1900  storm, 
and  which  this  generation  remembers  "like  a  ragged  beg- 
gar sunning."  In  poverty  almost  pitiful  the  new  Gov- 
ernment began  upon  the  very  tract  of  land  where  within 
the  last  few  years  the  great  Columbia  oil  fields  were  found, 
and  more  wealth  has  been  taken  from  one  of  these  wells 
than  would  have  been  required  to  pay  the  entire  debt  of  the 
Republic  during  its  whole  existence. 

William  H.  Wharton,  who  was  a  Senator  from  Brazoria 
in  the  new  Congress,  was  named  Minister  to  the  United 

158 


THE  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS 

States,  and  Austin  the  new  Secretary  of  State,  entered  ac- 
tively upon  the  details  of  forming  a  Government. 

The  first  Congress  remained  in  session  at  Columbia 
until  December,  when  it  recessed  to  meet  at  Houston  in 
the  following  May,  this  place  having  been  chosen  as  the 
Capital,  until  1840. 

The  people  of  Texas  were  very  much  disappointed  that 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  did  not  at  once  reorganize 
Texas  as  an  independent  Government. 

When  Minister  Wharton  reached  Washington,  he  found 
many  discouragements,  but  he  at  once  set  to  work  to  urge 
his  life-long  Tennessee  friend,  Andrew  Jackson,  to  agree  to 
immediate  recognition. 

The  end  of  the  year  was  approaching,  and  as  the  holiday 
season  drew  nigh  he  haunted  the  White  House,  and  at  mid- 
night on  a  bleak  December  night  he  wrung  from  the  old 
warrior  President  a  promise  of  immediate  recognition;  and 
on  December  21st,  while  Santa  Anna  was  in  Washington, 
Jackson  sent  a  message  to  Congress  recommending  recog- 
nition, but  the  matter  was  delayed  until  the  following 
March. 

There  were  three  constitutional  Presidents  of  the  Repub- 
lic— Houston,  who  served  two  terms,  separated  by  the  ad- 
ministration of  Lamar,  the  second  President,  and  Dr.  Anson 
Jones,  who  was  the  Chief  Executive  when  Texas  was  an- 
nexed. 

The  whole  period  of  national  life  was  filled  with  wars  and 
rumors  of  wars.  There  was  almost  constant  strife  with 
Mexico,  frequent  spasmodic  invasions.  Twice  large  armies 
crossed  the  Rio  Grande,  and  came  as  far  as  San  Antonio, 
but  nothing  could  tempt  an  invasion  further  east.  In  each 
instance  they  hurried  back  across  the  border  before  the 
Texans  could  rally  to  meet  them. 

159 


THE  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS 

But  greater  and  nearer  home  than  the  Mexican  menace 
was  the  ever  growing  Indian  hostility,  provoked  by  the  en- 
croachment of  the  settlers  upon  the  hunting  grounds  of  the 
Red  Brother  north  of  the  old  San  Antonio-Nacogdoches 
Road.  The  history  of  all  that  vast  area  is  one  of  blood- 
shed, and  every  square  mile  of  the  land  has  its  legend  of  In- 
dian raid  and  massacre. 

The  Republic  had  a  foreign  policy,  and  sent  ministers  to 
foreign  courts.  It  had  an  army  and  the  usual  strife  and  dis- 
order of  citizen  soldiery.  It  had  a  navy  which  has  a  history 
of  its  own. 

When  the  American  Congress  offered  Texas  annexation, 
the  question  was  submitted  to  our  people  in  1845,  and  was 
widely  discussed  throughout  the  State.  There  was  a  cam- 
paign, and  mass  meetings  were  held  and  public  speeches 
made. 

A  typical  resolution  was  adopted  at  a  mass  meeting  held 
in  Richmond  in  June  of  that  year. 

"RESOLVED,  that  like  the  prodigal  son  who  had  sojourned 
so  long  in  foreign  lands,  we  will  return  to  our  father's 
house." 

On  February  16,  1846,  only  a  few  days  less  than  ten 
years  from  the  birth  of  the  Republic,  Anson  Jones,  the 
last  President,  formally  surrendered  his  authority,  and 
J.  Pinckney  Henderson,  the  first  Governor  of  the  State  of 
Texas,  began  his  administration. 

The  close  of  this  era  is  well  expressed  in  the  words  of 
President  Jones,  as  he  surrendered  his  executive  authority 
to  the  Governor-elect: 

"The  Lone  Star,  which  ten  years  ago  arose  amidst  clouds 
over  fields  of  carnage,  obscurely  seen  for  a  while,  has  cul- 
minated, and  following  an  inscrutable  destiny  has  passed 
on  and  become  fixed  forever  in  the  glorious  constellation — 


160 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

the  American  Union.     The  final  act  of  the  great  drama  is 
now  performed.    The  Republic  of  Texas  is  no  more." 


II. 
THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 

The  charge  was  openly  made  in  the  United  States  by 
those  who  were  unfriendly  to  the  Texas  Revolution,  that 
there  were  not  fifty  citizens  of  Texas  at  the  Battle  of  San 
Jacinto ;  that  Houston 's  entire  army  was  composed  of  volun- 
teers and  adventurers  from  the  United  States.  William  E. 
Channing,  the  Boston  clergyman  who  lead  a  fervent  crusade 
against  Texas  and  the  Texans,  made  this  statement  in  his 
celebrated  letter  to  Henry  Clay,  which  was  widely  circulated 
as  a  political  document  during  the  annexation  controversy. 
It  is  true  that  the  Revolution  was  wonderfully  aided  in 
every  way  by  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  and  within 
three  or  four  months  after  San  Jacinto  as  many  as  twenty- 
five  hundred  men  from  the  States  presented  themselves  for 
service  during  the  war.  It  has  been  said  on  high  authority 
that  there  were  more  men  on  the  way  to  join  Houston 's  com- 
mand at  the  time  the  battle  was  fought,  than  he  had  with 
him.  Touching  the  matter  of  foreign  aid,  Mr.  Eugene  C. 
Barker,  who  covered  the  topic  in  an  article  written  for  the 
Texas  Historical  Quarterly  in  1906,  wrote:  "But  when  all 
is  said  it  was  really  the  old  settlers  who  did  almost  unaided 
all  the  effectual  fighting  in  the  Texas  Revolution.  They 
captured  Goliad  in  the  fall  of  1835,  and  assisted  by  a  few 
companies  from  the  United  States,  captured  Bexar  in  De- 
cember of  that  year,  and  practically  alone  they  won  the  bat- 
tle of  San  Jacinto. " 


161 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

It  was  also  charged  in  those  days  that  the  Revolution  was 
the  work  of  what  northern  writers  called  the  slave-holding 
oligarchy. 

On  November  11,  1836,  there  was  pending  before  the  first 
Senate  of  the  Republic  a  bill  giving  bounty  lands  to  sol- 
diers, and  William  H.  Wharton,  Senator  from  Brazoria, 
made  the  point  that  the  large  land  owners,  the  wealthy 
planters  and  merchants,  were  not  at  he  battle  of  San  Ja- 
cinto. 

' '  I  have  examined  the  list  of  those  who  won  the  battle 
(he  said),  and  find  that  very  few  men  who  are  esteemed 
men  of  property  were  there. 

"I  find  that  the  battle  was  fought  and  won  by  the  poor 
men  of  the  country  at  least  half  of  whom  had  never  located 
a  headright  in  Texas. ' ' 

It  has  been  said  that  nearly  all  of  those  who  came  to  do 
military  service  remained  in  the  country  and  became  citi- 
zens. 

The  news  of  the  victory  at  San  Jacinto  caused  a  rush 
of  volunteers  from  the  States. 

Felix  Huston,  a  lawyer  and  planter,  from  Vicksburg, 
Mississippi,  equipped  five  hundred  men  and  brought  them 
ready  for  service. 

Memucan  Hunt,  from  Mississippi,  undertook  to  bring 
four  thousand  men,  and  was  instrumental  in  procuring  one 
thousand. 

Thomas  J.  Chambers,  of  Texas,  raised  several  companies 
in  Kentucky,  who  came  ready  for  service. 

Rusk  was  named  to  command  when  General  Houston  left 
for  New  Orleans  in  May  to  get  medical  treatment  for  the 
wound  he  received  in  the  battle.  Rusk  lead  the  army  in 
the  wake  of  the  retreating  Mexicans,  and  during  the  sum- 
mer and  autumn  of  1836,  it  was  camped  at  and  near  Vic- 


162 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

toria,  and  for  several  months  afterwards  on  the  Lavaca 
River. 

After  the  Mexican  forces  were  withdrawn,  Rusk  desired 
to  be  relieved,  and  suggested  Felix  Huston  to  succeed  him. 
President  Burnet  named  Colonel  Lamar,  who  repaired  to 
the  army  to  take  command.  Felix  was  a  convivial  person, 
and  had  made  himself  so  popular  with  the  men  in  the  ser- 
vice that  they  declined  to  accept  Colonel  Lamar,  and  he  re- 
turned, leaving  Huston  in  command. 

A  great  many  turbulent,  meddlesome  men  foregathered 
with  the  so-called  army,  and  little  semblance  of  military  dis- 
cipline was  maintained. 

At  one  time  a  conspiracy  was  formed  to  depose  President 
Burnet  and  try  him  at  court  martial  for  some  feigned  griev- 
ance, and  a  company  of  soldiers  came  all  the  way  to  the 
Brazos  upon  this  fool's  errand,  but  thought  better  of 
it. 

All  the  while  rumors  persisted  that  another  invasion 
was  coming  from  Mexico,  and  though  the  army  was  a  great 
financial  burden  as  well  as  a  menace,  it  could  not  be 
disbanded. 

When  the  first  Congress  met  in  the  autumn  of  1836,  the 
army  was  its  greatest  problem.  It  was  thought  wise  to 
name  a  man  from  the  United  States  of  military  experience 
to  command,  and  the  two  houses  passed  a  joint  resolution 
inviting  General  James  Hamilton,  of  South  Carolina,  to 
become  a  citizen  of  Texas  and  commander  of  the  army. 

He  had  been  an  officer  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  had  served 
as  Governor  of  South  Carolina  and  United  States  Senator 
from  that  State.  General  Hamilton  declined  the  honor,  and 
Felix  Huston  remained  in  command.  "The  Texan  Army" 
of  1836  was  a  cosmopolitan  affair,  made  up  of  men  from 
everywhere. 


163 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

Preston  Johnston,  in  his  life  of  Albert  Sidney  Johnston, 
describes  them, '  *  the  ardent  youth  of  the  South,  burning  for 
military  glory.  Enthusiasts  of  constitutional  freedom  min- 
gled with  adventurerers  from  Europe ;  souls  as  knightly  and 
unstained  as  Bayard  with  outlaws  and  men  of  broken,  des- 
perate fortunes." 

It  was  on  the  Coleto,  in  the  summer  of  1836,  that  the  gal- 
lant Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  lately  a  lieutenant  in  the 
army  of  the  United  States,  and  destined  in  the  years  to  come 
to  be  one  of  America's  greatest  generals,  joined  the  Texas 
army  as  a  private.  He  was  in  his  thirty-fourth  year,  and  a 
splendid  specimen  of  manhood.  He  remained  with  the 
army  for  a  period,  and  served  the  new  Government  in  sev- 
eral minor  capacities,  and  late  in  January,  1837,  President 
Houston  named  him  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  of  the 
Republic,  and  he  left  Houston  for  headquarters  on  the 
Lavaca  to  take  command.  Felix  Huston,  though  without 
military  experience,  had  many  qualities  for  a  great  com- 
mander, and  among  them  was  the  esteem  of  his  men. 

When  it  was  announced  that  Albert  Sidney  Johnston 
was  coming  to  take  command,  both  Felix  and  his  friends 
felt  that  he  had  been  badly  treated,  and  were  in  an  ugly 
mood.  To  make  bad  matters  worse,  Colonel  Moorehouse 
rode  over  to  Texana  and  met  General  Johnston  as  he  came 
down,  and  was  not  over-careful  in  what  he  related  about 
Huston 's  attitude  and  purposes. 

On  February  4th,  Huston  addressed  a  formal  challenge 
to  Johnston,  professing  respect  and  admiration  for  him, 
but  remonstrating:  "Your  appointment  was  connected 
with  a  tissue  of  treachery  intended  to  degrade  me  and  blast 
my  prospects.  *  *  *  I  therefore  propose  a  meeting 
between  us.  My  friend  Major  Ross  will  make  all  necessary 
arangements. ' ' 


164 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

No  duelling  pistols  could  be  found  in  the  camp,  and  they 
agreed  to  use  Felix  Huston's  horse-pistols,  and  he  gave 
Johnston  his  choice.  The  seconds  arranged  that  they  should 
fire  from  the  hip,  though  General  Johnston  declared  he  did 
not  think  he  could  hit  the  side  of  a  house  with  a  hip  shot. 
In  the  early  morning  of  February  5th  the  little  party  ford- 
ed the  Lavaca  and  rode  to  an  open  prairie,  where  the 
principals  stripped  to  their  shirt  sleeves  and  faced  each 
other  at  sunrise, 

There  are  two  accounts  of  just  what  happened.  Preston 
Johnston,  in  the  biography  of  his  gallant  father,  relates  it : 
"It  is  known  to  those  familiar  with  the  use  of  a  hair  trig- 
ger that  if  the  finger  is  allowed  to  touch  it,  the  report  of 
another  pistol  will  always  produce  a  sufficient  involuntary 
muscular  contraction  of  the  finger  to  cause  a  premature 
discharge.  Availing  himself  of  this  fact,  General  Johnston 
raised  his  pistol  quickly  and  with  an  eye  on  his  opponent's 
trigger  finger  anticipated  him  enough  to  draw  his  fire  be- 
fore Huston  could  cover  him  with  his  pistol.  Johnston  re- 
peated this  five  times  with  the  same  result.  The  sixth 
shot  struck  General  Johnston  in  the  hip.  Sidney  Huston, 
a  great  grandson  of  Felix  Huston,  gave  me  a  statement  from 
an  eye-witness  who  relates  it  thus:  Johnston  fired  four 
shots,  Huston  three.  The  third  time  Huston's  pistol 
snapped  and  he  sat  down,  took  his  pocket  knife  and  picked 
the  flint  of  his  lock  and  they  took  position  for  the  fourth 
time,  and  when  they  fired  Johnston  fell." 

Huston  approached  General  Johnston  as  he  lay  wounded 
and  offered  his  sympathy,  and  avowed  his  intention  to 
serve  under  him,  and  indeed  he  remained  with  the  army 
for  some  weeks,  and  cheerfully  recognized  Johnston  as  his 
superior  officer.  It  was  thought  that  Johnston's  wound 
was  fatal,  and  he  lay  near  death  for  some  weeks  at  the  lit- 

165 


THE  FIRST  CAPITALS  OF  TEXAS 

tie  village  of  Texana,  but  he  lived  for  a  wonderful  military 
career,  and  died  on  the  field  of  Shiloh  nearly  thirty  years 
after.  He  and  Felix  Huston  became  fast  friends,  and  Felix 
named  a  son  for  the  great  commander,  and  Preston  John- 
ston wrote  in  his  father's  biography  forty  years  later  that 
' '  Felix  Huston 's  character  was  brave  and  manly. ' ' 

The  problem  of  maintaining  the  army  became  more  se- 
rious than  the  ever-threatening  Mexican  invasion,  and,  on 
April  18th,  President  Houston  furloughed  the  first  army  of 
the  Kepublic,  and  it  passed  into  history. 


III. 
THE  FIRST  CAPITALS  OF  TEXAS. 

The  first  grant  made  by  the  Mexican  nation  in  April, 
1823,  directed  Austin  to  select  a  central  location  for  a  city 
to  become  his  seat  of  Government,  and  Governor  Garcia 
took  the  liberty  of  suggesting  a  name  for  the  proposed  city, 
and  christened  it  San  Felipe  de  Austin,  San  Felipe  being 
his  patron  saint.  It  was  named  before  it  was  located.  The 
first  site  discussed  was  on  the  Colorado,  near  where  Colum- 
bus was  later  located,  but  Austin  chose  the  Brazos  as  more 
central  to  his  settlements. 

From  1823  to  1836  it  remained  the  seat  of  Government, 
and  was  the  most  important  town  in  the  Colonies.  When 
Houston's  army  retreated  from  San  Felipe  in  April,  1836, 
going  up  the  river  to  Groce  's,  the  town  was  burned  to  keep 
anything  of  value  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Mex- 
icans. 

Santa  Anna  reached  there  while  the  fires  were  yet  smoul- 

166 


THE  FIRST  CAPITALS  OF  TEXAS 

dering,  and  reported  finding  it  in  ruins.  The  Government 
was  more  or  less  migratory  during  1836.  . 

The  convention  which  declared  independence  and  set  up 
the  provisional  government  met  in  March  at  Washington 
on  the  Brazos,  but  left  there,  going  to  Harrisburg  and  then 
to  Galveston.  Burnet  's  headquarters  were  for  awhile  at  Ve- 
lasco  and  then  at  Columbia,  where  the  first  Congress  met  in 
October,  1836. 

It  was  determined  to  select  a  temporary  capital,  with 
the  thought  that  the  permanent  seat  of  Government  should 
be  located  later  and  further  north  than  the  then  existing 
settlements. 

The  two  houses  met  in  joint  session  on  November  30th, 
1836,  to  select  a  seat  of  government  until  the  year  1840. 
The  journal  of  this  session  recites  that  the  following  places 
were  put  in  nomination.  Houston  on  Buffalo  Bayou,  Mata- 
gorda,  Washington,  Velasco,  Quintana,  Nacogdoches,  Hi- 
dalgo, Refugio,  Fort  Bend,  Goliad,  Groce's  Retreat,  Bexar, 
Columbia,  San  Patricio,  Brazoria,  Orozimbo.  Upon  the  first 
ballot  no  place  had  a  majority.  Houston  lead  with  eleven 
votes,  Matagorda  second  with  eight,  and  Washington  seven. 
On  the  fourth  ballot,  Houston  was  chosen.  On  December 
21st,  the  first  session  of  the  first  Congress  adjourned  to 
meet  in  Houston  on  the  following  May. 

"Houston  on  Buffalo  Bayou,"  as  it  is  written  in  the 
congressional  record,  was  yet  a  city  in  prospect  when  it 
was  selected  on  November  30th  for  the  temporary  capital  of 
the  Republic. 

The  Aliens,  who  promoted  it,  had  surveyed  the  site  in 
August,  1836,  and  on  August  30th  had  inserted  an  adver- 
tisement in  the  Bordens'  paper  which  spoke  in  florid 
terms  of  the  site  chosen  upon  which  they  proposed 
to  build  a  city.  They  described  its  location,  "The 

167 


THE  FIRST  CAPITALS  OF  TEXAS 

town  of  Houston  is  fifteen  miles  from  the  Brazos 
River,  thirty  miles  from  San  Felipe,  forty  miles 
from  Lake  Creek,  thirty  miles  southwest  from  New  Ken- 
tucky, and  fifteen  miles  by  water  above  Harrisburg.  Prep- 
arations are  being  made  to  erect  a  saw  mill  and  a  large 
public  house/' 

As  soon  as  it  was  chosen  as  the  seat  of  Government,  in- 
terest in  it  was  manifest.  Ex-Governor  Lubbock,  in  his 
memoirs  published  in  1900,  tells  of  his  advent  here 
about  January  1,  1837.  He  came  on  the  steamboat 
''Laura,"  which  he  declares  was  the  first  boat  that  ever 
reached  her  landing.  * '  Just  before  reaching  our  destination 
a  party  of  us  left  the  steamboat  and  took  a- yawl  and  went 
ahead  to  hunt  the  city.  We  found  no  evidence  of  a  landing, 
and  passed  the  site  and  ran  up  into  White  Oak  Bayou,  and 
got  stuck  in  the  brush.  We  then  backed  down  the  Bayou, 
and  found  that  we  had  gone  past  the  city,  and  a  close  ob- 
servation disclosed  a  road  or  street  laid  off  to  the  water's 
edge. 

"Upon  landing  we  found  stakes  and  footprints.  A  few 
tents  were  located  not  far  away,  one  large  one  was  used  for 
a  saloon.  Logs  were  being  hauled  from  the  forest  for  the 
erection  of  a  hotel  where  the  Hutchins  house  now  stands." 
(Now  site  of  Southern  Pacific  building.) 

The  Aliens  had  undertaken  to  provide  a  capitol  building, 
and  on  April  16,  1837,  they  began  its  construction  so  as 
to  have  it  ready  for  the  session  of  Congress,  which  was  to 
and  did  convene  on  May  5th  following.  This  structure 
stood  at  the  intersection  of  Main  and  Texas,  where  the 
Rice  Hotel  now  stands.  And  here  at  the  appointed  time, 
12  o'clock  noon,  May  5th,  1837,  the  second  session  of  the 
first  Congress  of  the  Republic  met.  The  indomitable  Bor- 
dens  with  their  newspaper  followed  the  Government  from 


168 


THE  CAPITOL  AT  HOUSTON,   1837 


AUSTIN  LOCATED  AT  WATERLOO 

Columbia,  but  were  a  wee  bit  late,  and  in  the  first  issue  of 
their  paper,  published  in  Houston  on  the  2nd  day  of  May, 
1837,  they  apologized  for  the  delay.  * '  We  left  Columbia  on 
the  steamboat  *  Yellowstone '  on  April  16,  but  were  delayed 
a  week  by  the  surf  on  the  bar  at  Velasco.  We  were  then 
stranded  at  Clopper's  bar  for  a  day,  and  reached  Lynch- 
burg  on  the  26th,  whence  we  proceeded  at  the  rate  of  one 
mile  an  hour  to  the  head  of  navigation  at  Houston  on  Buf- 
falo Bayou.."  When  Congress  convened  in  Houston  on 
May  5th,  Robert  J.  Walker,  United  States  Senator  from 
Mississippi,  was  a  guest  of  the  houses.  During  the  next 
decade,  he  was  the  stalwart  friend  of  Texas,  and  one  of 
the  most  powerful  factors  in  bringing  about  annexation. 


IV. 
AUSTIN  LOCATED  AT  WATERLOO. 

While  the  resolution  which  fixed  the  seat  of  government 
at  Houston  provided  that  it  should  remain  the  capital  until 
1840,  yet  the  location  of  the  permanent  capital  was  an  ever- 
present  interesting  question. 

By  common  consent  it  was  agreed  that  the  name  of  the 
city  should  be  Austin,  and  almost  the  same  concensus  of 
opinion  decided  in  advance  that  it  should  be  located  as  far 
north  as  the  old  King's  Highway,  and  on  either  the  Brazos 
or  the  Colorado. 

Though  at  the  time  there  were  few  settlements  in  the  dark 
and  bloody  ground  north  of  the  San  Antonio  Road,  yet 
the  frontier  folks  were  pushing  their  perilous  way  into 
these  wilds,  and  it  was  thought  that  the  location  of  the  seat 
of  government  there  would  make  it  a  new  center  of  settle- 


169 


AUSTIN  LOCATED  AT  WATERLOO 

ment.  The  Second  Congress,  which  met  at  Houston  in 
September,  1837,  named  a  commission  to  "inquire  into  the 
propriety  of  selecting  a  site  on  which  to  locate  permanently 
the  seat  of  government  of  the  Republic." 

This  committee  was  instructed  to  select  such  a  site  between 
the  Trinity  and  Guadaloupe  not  further  south  than  Fort 
Bend  or  more  than  twenty  miles  north  of  the  San  Antonio 
Eoad.  It  made  a  report  in  November  naming  a  number  of 
places  which  it  had  considered,  but  without  selecting  one. 
No  action  was  ever  taken  on  this  report,  and  in  December, 
1837,  a  second  commission  of  five  was  named  with  instruc- 
tions to  examine  various  sites  proposed  and  make  a  report 
in  the  following  April,  1838.  This  committee  reported  that 
it  had  selected  John  Eblin's  League,  on  the  Colorado,  ad- 
joining the  tract  on  which  the  town  of  LaGrange  was 
located. 

The  Second  Congress,  which  was  in  session  when  this  re- 
port was  made,  adopted  it  on  April  17,  1838,  and  thus  Eb^ 
lin's  League  was  chosen  and  Austin  was  to  be  located  next 
door  to  LaGrange  in  Fayette  County. 

Though  President  Houston  had  approved  the  resolution 
naming  this  commission  in  November,  1837,  yet  he  vetoed 
the  act  of  Congress  naming  Eblin's  League  as  the  site  in 
April,  1838,  giving  the  reason  that  since  the  capital  was  to 
remain  at  Houston  until  1840,  it  was  premature  to  select  a 
new  site  in  1838,  for  any  intervening  Congress  might  at  its 
will  change  it.  It  was  generally  thought  that  President 
Houston  hoped  the  capital  would  remain  at  Houston. 

There  was  a  change  in  Presidents  in  1838,  and  Mirabeau 
B.  Lamar  and  David  G.  Burnet  became  President  and  Vice- 
President. 

The  capital  issue  had  been  prominent  in  the  campaign, 
and  in  January,  1839,  Lamar  approved  a  bill  naming  the 

170 


AUSTIN  LOCATED  AT  WATERLOO 

third  and  last  capital  commission.  The  members  of  the 
commission  chosen  by  Congress  were  A.  C.  Horton,  I.  W. 
Burton,  William  Menefee,  Isaac  Campbell  and  Louis  P. 
Cooke. 

The  act  creating  it  stipulated  that  the  site  should  be  be- 
tween the  Trinity  and  the  Colorado  and  above  the  San 
Antonio  Road.  The  committee  first  decided  in  favor  of 
placing  the  city  on  the  Colorado,  and  in  April,  1839,  report- 
ed ' '  that  we  have  selected  the  site  of  the  town  of  Waterloo, 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Colorado. ' '  In  their  unanimous  re- 
port they  write:  "The  imagination  of  even  the  romantic 
will  not  be  disappointed  on  viewing  the  valley  of  the  Colo- 
rado and  the  woodlands  and  prairies  at  a  distance  from  it, 
and  the  citizen's  bosom  will  swell  with  honest  pride  when 
standing  at  the  portico  of  the  capital  of  his  country  he  looks 
abroad  upon  a  region  worthy  of  being  the  home  of  the  brave 
and  free." 

The  village  of  Waterloo  was  then  the  home  of  four  fron- 
tier families,  and  was  far  into  the  Comanche  country.  In 
May,  1839,  Edwin  Waller,  who  had  been  chosen  to  survey 
and  lay  out  the  new  city,  was  well  under  way  with  his  work, 
and,  guarded  by  rangers,  the  construction  work  began  at 
once,  and  was  so  far  advanced  that  the  Government,  headed 
by  the  President  and  his  Cabinet,  reached  Austin  October 
17,  1839,  and  was  received  with  much  ceremony,  which  end- 
ed in  a  banquet  which  began  at  3  p.  m.  and  ended  when  the 
President  arose  at  8.  Lamar  was  the  chief  factor  in  the  re- 
moval from  Houston  prior  to  1840,  and  tradition  ascribes 
to  him  the  selection  of  the  beautiful  site  at  the  village  of 
Waterloo.  In  Vol.  22  of  the  quarterly  published  by  the 
Texas  Historical  Association,  A.  W.  Terrell,  who  was  long 
identified  with  public  life  in  Texas,  contributes  an  article 


171 


AUSTIN  LOCATED  AT  WATERLOO 

which  dignifies  this  tradition  and  makes  it  a  part  of  our 
written  history.  Here  is  Mr.  Terrell's  narrative: 

"Lamar,  then  Vice-President  of  the  Republic,  came  with 
a  party  of  hunters  in  the  autumn  of  1837  and  camped  at  an 
old  fort  in  Fort  Prairie,  six  miles  below  where  Austin  now 
stands. 

"  Jacob  Harrell  was  then  the  only  settler  living  at  the 
present  site  of  Austin  and  no  white  man  lived  on  the  waters 
of  the  Colorado  above  him.  His  cabin  and  stockade,  made  of 
split  logs,  were  built  at  the  mouth  of  Shoal  Creek,  near  the 
river  ford.  The  hunters  were  awakened  early  in  the  morn- 
ing by  Jake  Harrell 's  little  son,  who  told  them  the  prairie 
was  full  of  buffalo.  Lamar  and  his  companions  were  soon 
in  the  saddle,  and  after  a  successful  hunt  were  assembled  by 
a  recall  from  the  bugler  on  the  very  hill  where  the  capitol 
now  stands.  General  Lamar  sat  on  his  horse  and  looked 
from  the  hill  on  the  valley  covered  with  rye ;  the  mountains 
up  the  river,  and  the  wonderful  view  to  the  south ;  and  said 
to  his  companions,  'This  should  be  the  seat  of  future  em- 
pire/ " 

When  Lamar  approved  the  act  appointing  the  commis- 
sion which  made  the  final  location,  he  asked  them  to  go  to 
Jake  Harrell 's  cabin  and  look  carefully  over  the  site,  and 
they  did. 

It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  that  Austin,  some  years 
before,  had  chosen  this  site  as  a  location  for  his  permanent 
home,  where  he  hoped  to  retire  and  live  his  latter  days  in 
peace,  although  this  fact  does  not  seem  to  have  been  known 
to  the  committee  which  chose  it  to  forever  bear  his  name. 
There  is  yet  in  existence  a  letter  which  Austin  wrote  from 
Coahuila  to  Sam'l  M.  Williams  in  May,  1832,  giving  Wil- 
liams instructions  for  surveying  for  him  what  he  character- 
izes as  "the  most  attractive  spot  in  all  Texas."  The  lo- 


172 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  CHEROKEES 

cation  is  to  begin,  "at  the  upper  line  of  Tannehill  League 
about  five  varas  beyond  the  Big  Springs  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain,"  afterwards  and  now  known  as  Mount  Bon- 
nel. 

The  survey  was  to  include  the  "falls  of  the  River." 
He  accompanied  the  letter  with  a  sketch  made  from  mem- 
ory long  after  having  visited  this  wild  scene.     "Here  (he 
wrote),  I  shall  fix  my  residence  on  the  Colorado  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountain  to  live." 

His  dream  of  retirement  to  this  ''most  beautiful  spot," 
was  never  fulfilled  but  his  spirit  may  have  lead  the  locators 
in  1839  when  they  went  out  into  the  wilderness  to  found 
the  City  of  Austin. 


V. 
THE  COMING  OF  THE  CHEROKEES. 

The  native  tribes  of  Indians  in  the  timbered  regions  of 
Texas,  when  the  first  explorers  came,  were  well  disposed 
towards  the  white  man,  and  indeed  it  is  from  one  of  these 
tribes  of  friendly  folks,  Tejas,  that  the  name  Texas  comes. 

But  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  first  colonists,  these 
native  tribes  were  neither  numerous  nor  formidable.  This 
does  not  describe  the  prairie  Indian,  as  the  Comanche 
and  other  tribes  were  called,  who  abounded  in  the  vast 
region  north  and  north-west  of  the  old  King's  Highway. 
The  story  of  the  Cherokee,  and  his  advent  into  and  exodus 
from  North  and  East  Texas,  is  one  of  the  sad  chapters  in 
human  history.  The  ancestral  home  of  the  Cherokee  lay 
about  the  beautiful  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  and  included  the 

173 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  CHEROKEES 

vast  area  watered  by  the  rivers  which  flow  from  these  moun- 
tains through  Virginia,  Tennessee,  the  Carolinas,  Georgia 
and  Alabama.  The  white  man  was  crowding  him  out  of 
these  regions  early  in  the  last  century,  and  President  Jef- 
ferson thought  to  utilize  some  of  the  wild  western  lands  ac- 
quired in  the  Louisiana  purchase  upon  which  to  locate  these 
and  other  Indians  east  of  the  Mississippi,  who  were  hinder- 
ing the  progress  of  civilization. 

Ten  thousand  Cherokees  had  migrated  into  Arkansas  ter- 
ritory as  early  as  1809,  and  while  Texas  was  yet  a  Spanish 
province  about  1820,  Cherokee  tribes  had  come  down  into 
East  Texas  and  applied  to  the  Spanish  authorities  for 
land  grants.  They  had  come  to  understand  that  a  man  must 
have  a  paper  title  to  hold  land.  When  Stephen  F.  Austin 
was  in  Mexico  in  1822,  seeking  a  confirmation  of  the  grant 
the  Spanish  authorities  made  to  his  father  in  1821,  Richard 
Fields,  the  chief  of  the  East  Texas  Cherokees,  was  there 
urging  a  grant  to  his  people.  The  most  that  Fields  could 
get  from  the  Mexican  Government  was  permission  to  occupy 
the  land  as  it  were  during  good  behavior.  This  did  not  sat- 
isfy Fields  or  his  people,  and  in  1825,  when  the  Edwards 
and  their  followers  brought  on  the  so-called  Fredonian  Re- 
bellion at  Nacogdoches,  they  found  the  Cherokee  leaders  in 
an  ugly  frame  of  mind  against  Mexico  for  not  having  made 
them  the  land  grant  they  had  expected,  and  Fields  and 
John  Dunn  Hunter  made  an  alliance  with  the  Edwards 
by  which  they  were  to  jointly  overthrow  Mexican  authority 
in  Texas,  and  the  Indians  were  to  have  the  country  north 
of  the  King's  Highway — the  San  Antonio-Nacogdoches 
Road. 

But  when  Fields  and  Hunter  went  back  to  their  people  to 
have  them  carry  out  the  bargain,  the  warriors  rebelled  and 
murdered  them  both.  The  chief  cause  of  the  insurrection 


174 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  CHEROKEES 

was  the  proposed  alliance  with  the  white  settlers,  for  they 
foresaw  that  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  white  settle- 
ments in  an  Indian  country,  and  they  hoped  to  make  East 
Texas  a  Cherokee  country. 

Then,  too,  it  subsequently  developed  that  Mexican  agents 
at  work  among  them  had  promised  Bowles,  who  succeeded 
Fields  as  Chief  of  the  Cherokees,  that  if  they  would  depose 
Hunter  and  Fields  that  the  Mexican  Government  would  re- 
ward them  substantially,  and  it  was  called  to  Bustamente's 
attention  that  they  hoped  for  a  land  grant  in  return  for 
their  loyalty.  The  Mexican  authorities,  including  Teran, 
determined  to  make  grants  to  the  individual  families  of 
Cherokees,  and  there  were  negotiations  for  several  years, 
and  finally  Colonel  Piedras,  commanding  the  Mexican  gar- 
rison at  Nacogdoches,  was  commissioned  "to  put  each  fam- 
ily composing  the  tribe  of  Cherokees  in  possession  of  the 
lands  which  they  are  now  possessing."  There  were  no  in- 
structions to  issue  them  titles,  and  in  fact  it  is  apparent 
that  the  Mexican  Government  never  intended  to  do  this, 
but  rather  to  allow  than  to  remain  tenants  at  will,  as  it 
were. 

Colonel  Piedras  and  his  garrison  were  driven  out  of 
Nacogdoches  by  the  colonists  in  1832,  before  he  had  exe- 
cuted this  commission,  and  though  they  continued  to  press 
their  claims,  they  never  got  more  than  permission  to  remain 
where  they  were  until  the  Supreme  Government  should  de- 
cide their  case.  In  this  way  they  were  postponed  from 
year  to  year,  and  the  Revolution  in  1835  found  them  occu- 
pying the  country  where  they  had  dwelt  since  they  first 
came  into  Texas  fifteen  years  before,  but  with  no  paper 
title,  and  this  they  knew  from  past  experience  gave  them  an 
insecure  footing. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  Cherokee  and  other  East  Texas 


175 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  CHEROKEES 

tribes  associated  with  them  had  more  than  1500  warriors 
and  five  times  that  many  people  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution.  Their  attitude  towards  the  colonists  at  this 
time  was  one  of  grave  concern,  and  in  November,  1835, 
when  it  was  known  that  a  Mexican  army  was  being  massed 
for  the  invasion  of  Texas  the  following  year,  the  consulta- 
tion which  was  the  provisional  Government  of  Texas,  made 
a  declaration  to  the  Cherokees,  "that  we  will  guarantee 
them  the  peacable  enjoyment  of  their  rights  to  their  land  as 
we  do  our  own. '  ' 

This  declaration  was  made  at  the  instance  of  General 
Houston,  and  he,  John  Forbes  and  John  Cameron  were 
named  as  commissioners  to  * '  take  such  steps  as  would  secure 
the  effective  cooperation  of  the  Indians."  Houston  and 
Forbes  made  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees  February  23, 
1836,  by  which  they  were  ceded  a  large  territory. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  treaty  and  Houston's  great 
influence  with  these  Indians  (for  he  was  a  Cherokee  Chief) 
kept  them  from  rendering  aid  to  Santa  Anna  during  the 
campaign  of  1836.  And  there  is  less  doubt  that  had  these 
fifteen  hundred  wariors  swept  down  through  the  settle- 
ments at  any  time  after  the  fall  of  the  Alamo,  and  before 
San  Jacinto,  the  Colonies  would  have  been  wiped  out.  All 
Texas  was  on  the  move  in  those  days  of  the  runaway  scrape, 
and  thousands  of  familes  would  have  fallen  easy  prey  to 
these  savage  warriors  while  seven  thousand  Mexican  soldiers 
were  scouring  the  country  from  Bastrop  to  the  sea. 

During  the  present  year,  1921,  the  Cherokees  have  under- 
taken to  file  suit  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
for  the  recovery  of  these  lands  ceded  them  in  this  treaty. 


176 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CHEROKEES 

VI. 
THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CHEROKEES. 

The  Cherokee  was  perhaps  the  most  enlightened  of  all 
the  North  American  Indians.  They  had  a  highly  developed 
tribal  government,  an  alphabet,  a  kind  of  rude  literature, 
and  had  stern  notions  of  individual  property  rights.  Many 
of  them  were  slave  owners,  and  those  who  came  to  Texas  in 
the  early  twenties  were  as  well  qualified  for  citizenship  as 
the  average  Mexican  of  that  period,  who  was  himself  an  In- 
dian of  far  less  force  than  the  Cherokee. 

The  fifteen  years  of  fruitless  effort  they  made  to  get  title 
to  their  lands  had  made  them  suspicious  of  Mexico  and  of 
promises  made  them  by  Mexican  officials  and  agents,  while 
their  great  reverence  for  Houston  had  lead  them  into  a 
treaty  in  February,  1836,  which  was  the  salvation  of  the 
colonists. 

After  San  Jacinto  the  Republic  refused  to  ratify  Hous- 
ton's treaty,  and  during  his  administration  the  Cherokees 
were  left  in  the  same  suspense  that  they  had  suffered  dur- 
ing the  preceding  fifteen  years. 

Suspicious  of  everybody  and  of  the  white  settlers  in  par- 
ticular, they  were  easily  aroused  and  influenced  by  Mexi- 
can agents  who  were  now  sent  among  them,  and  began  a  se- 
ries of  offenses  which  led  to  their  expulsion  from  the 
country  in  1839.  When  Filisola  retreated  after  San  Jacinto 
under  the  armistice  which  Santa  Anna  had  made,  he  took 
time  to  start  intrigues  with  the  Indians,  sending  agents 
among  them  to  incite  them  to  antagonism  to  the  colonists, 
and  these  intrigues  were  kept  up  almost  constantly  for  the 
ten  long  bloody  years  that  elapsed  before  annexation  and  the 
Mexican  War.  It  was  not  alone  the  Cherokees  but  the  Co- 


177 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CHEROKEES 

manches  and  various  other  tribes  who  dwelt  in  the  vast 
country  north  of  the  Old  Kings  Highway  who  were  wrought 
upon  and  lead  to  take  up  the  torch  and  tomahawk  against 
the  Texans. 

But  retribution  came  to  the  Cherokees  first,  to  the  others 
afterwards. 

The  story  of  the  Cherokee  expulsion  has  been  often  told, 
and  I  am  going  to  briefly  relate  it  here,  taking  the  facts 
stated  from  the  account  given  by  John  H.  Reagan,  who  was 
in  the  fight.  Reagan,  who  was  a  youth  of  twenty-one  at  the 
time,  went  with  Lacy,  the  Indian  Agent  who  was  sent  by 
President  Lamar  to  notify  the  Cherokees  that  because  of 
their  repeated  crimes  against  the  whites  and  their  continued 
intrigues  with  Mexican  emissaries  they  must  leave  Texas, 
and  go  back  to  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  from 
whence  they  had  come  twenty  years  before. 

"When  we  reached  the  residence  of  Chief  Bowles,  he 
invited  us  to  a  fine  spring  near  his  house,  where  we  were 
seated,  and  Lamar 's  message  was  read  to  him.  Bowles  said 
he  could  not  answer  as  to  abandoning  the  country  until  he 
could  consult  with  his  people,  and  he  was  given  ten  days. 
We  returned  to  his  house  at  the  expiration  of  this  time,  and 
he  said  his  young  men  were  for  war,  and  thought  they  could 
whip  the  whites,  but  he  knew  that  in  the  end  the  whites 
would  win.  He  said  that  while  it  was  true  they  never  had  a 
title  from  the  Mexican  Government,  yet  General  Houston 
had  confirmed  their  right  to  the  country  by  treaty. 

"He  told  of  a  plan  he  had  on  foot  to  join  his  tribe  with 
the  main  body  of  the  Cherokees  in  the  States  and  take  them 
all  to  California,  and  asked  for  time  to  gather  their  crops. 
(This  was  June,  1839). 

"Lacy  told  Bowles  he  had  no  authority  to  give  him  any 
such  time.  Bowles  then  said  it  mattered  little  to  him,  that 


178 


THE  PASSING  OF  THE  CHEROKEES 

he  was  now  eighty-three  years  old  and  would  not  live  much 
longer,  but  he  felt  a  great  interest  in  the  future  of  his  wives 
and  children.  That  his  tribe  had  always  been  true  to  him, 
and  though  he  differed  from  them  as  to  the  course  he  pur- 
sued, yet  they  wanted  war  rather  than  go,  and  war  it  must 
be. 

"The  colonists  had  determined  upon  their  immediate  ex- 
pulsion, and  three  regiments  were  approaching,  one  lead 
by  Rusk,  another  Landrum's  Bed  Landers,  and  the  third 
Edward  Burleson's  Regulars.  While  Rusk  was  waiting  for 
the  two  other  regiments  to  come  up,  Bowles  was  seeking  de- 
lay so  that  warriors  from  other  tribes  might  reach  him,  and 
Rusk  and  Bowles  agreed  upon  a  neutral  line  that  was  not  to 
be  crossed  by  either  party  without  giving  notice  to  the  other. 
About  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  July  15th,  John  Bowles, 
a  son  of  the  Chief,  and  Fox  Fields,  son  of  Richard  Fields, 
former  Chief,  rode  to  our  camp  and  notified  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston  that  they  were  ready  to  move  north  across  the  neu- 
tral strip,  and  General  Johnston  thanked  them  and  told 
them  that  the  Texans  would  cross  the  Neches  after  them. 

"There  were  battles  on  the  next  two  days,  in  which  the 
Indians  fought  with  great  valour.  Chief  Bowles  remained 
on  the  field  on  horseback,  wearing  a  handsome  sword  and 
sash  which  had  been  given  him  by  President  Houston.  He 
was  a  magnificent  picture  of  barbaric  manhood,  and  was 
the  last  to  leave  the  field  when  the  Indians  retreated.  He 
was  wounded  and  his  horse  disabled,  and  he  dismounted, 
an'd  as  he  walked  away  was  shot  in  the  back  and  fell.  Then 
as  he  sat  up  with  his  face  towards  us,  I  started  to  him  to 
secure  his  surrender. 

"At  the  same  instant  my  Captain,  Bob  Smith,  ran  to- 
wards him  with  a  drawn  pistol  and  we  reached  Bowles  at 
the  same  instant.  Realizing  what  was  imminent,  I  called 

179 


THE  PRAIRIE  INDIANS 

'Captain,  don't  shoot  him,'  but  he  fired,  striking  Bowles 
in  the  head,  killing  him  instantly. ' ' 

This  graphic  account  was  written  by  Judge  Reagan  many 
years  later,  and  we  all  know  it  is  accurate. 

The  Cherokees  moved  north,  and  were  subsequently  joined 
with  scattered  remnants  of  their  once  powerful  tribe,  and 
located  in  the  ' '  Cherokee  Nation. ' '  Judge  Reagan  says  that 
besides  Cherokee  warriors,  there  were  Shawnees,  Delawares, 
Kickapoos  and  Indians  from  various  other  small  tribes 
then  living  in  North  and  Northeast  Texas  engaged  in  this 
battle. 

General  Houston  was  very  bitter  in  his  opposition  to  this 
campaign,  and  it  brought  down  his  great  wrath  upon  the 
Lamar  administration;  and  ever  afterwards  he  held  an  al- 
most savage  hatred  for  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  whom  he 
regarded  as  a  strong  instrument  in  bringing  it  about. 


VIII. 
THE  PRAIRIE  INDIANS. 

Distinguished  from  the  Cherokees  and  East  Texas  In- 
dians, the  many  wild  tribes  who  dwelt  and  roved  further 
to  the  west  were  often  referred  to  as  the  prairie  Indians, 
and  the  Mexican  authorities  were  always  hopeful  that  there 
would  be  no  alliance  between  them.  There  were  a  number 
of  these  tribes,  but  the  most  formidable  of  them  was  the  Co- 
manche.  It  may  well  be  doubted  if  this  world  has  ever  pro- 
duced a  more  hardy,  vigorous,  terrible  specimen  of  physical 
manhood  and  daring  courage  than  the  Comanche  Indian. 
The  Texas  Comanche  roved  up  and  down  the  vast  west 

180 


THE  PRAIRIE  INDIANS 

from  the  Kansas  prairies  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  often  taking 
side  trips  or  excursions  down  into  Mexico,  where  he  always 
left  a  bloody  trail.  They  rarely  came  east  of  the  Lower 
Brazos,  but  there  is  not  a  village  or  hamlet  west  of  the 
Colorado  from  Port  Lavaca  to  the  Red  River  that  is  with- 
out a  tradition  of  his  midnight  visit. 

He  would  come  south  in  the  winter  along  with  the  buf- 
falo, which  he  called  his  cattle,  and  would  seek  the  higher, 
cooler  climate  of  the  plateaus  in  the  summer. 

There  was  not  a  year  after  the  first  colonists  came  in  1821 
that  he  did  not  depredate  in  the  settlements,  and  during 
the  Republic,  stirred  by  Mexican  agents  and  by  the  ever 
more  obvious  encroachments  of  the  white  settlers,  he  was 
a  terror  by  day  and  by  night.  It  was  a  custom  of  the 
Comanches  after  a  raid  into  Mexico  to  stop  by  way  of 
San  Antonio  and  trade,  and  often  after  excursions  into 
Texas  settlements  they  would  boldly  come  into  San  Antonio 
and  offer  their  captives  for  ransom.  On  such  occasions  they 
would  ride  up  to  the  commandant  and  require  him  to  keep 
their  horses  and  chattels  while  they  went  up  town  for  a  frol- 
ic. They  made  a  kind  of  groom  out  of  the  small  command 
which  was  depended  on  for  garrison  by  the  helpless  popu- 
lation. 

Albert  Sydney  Johnston  was  in  San  Antonio  on  one  oc- 
casion in  1839  when  a  band  of  warriors  came  to  town,  and 
relates  an  interesting  incident. 

Essowakkeny,  the  Comanche  Chief,  dismounted,  and 
pointing  to  his  horses  said,  "  There  is  our  caballado,  take 
care  of  it. "  "  Yes, ' '  said  General  Johnston,  looking  stead- 
ily at  him.  "You  ride  good  horses;  I  take  care  of  mine, 
you  take  care  of  yours."  And  the  Indian  met  the  fear- 
less gaze  of  a  warrior  as  bold  as  himself,  and  with  a  grim 
smile  detailed  some  of  his  own  men  to  watch  his  caballado. 


181 


THE  PRAIRIE  INDIANS 

The  story  of  the  Council  House  fight  in  San  Antonio  in 
March,  1840,  has  been  often  told,  and  is  indeed  one  of  the 
most  tragic  in  the  annals  of  our  Indian  wars.  I  have  read 
many  reports  of  it,  some  given  by  eye-witnesses,  and  the 
following  is  taken  largely  from  the  narrative  of  General 
Johnston : 

In  February,  1840,  the  Comanches  agreed  to  bring  all 
their  white  prisoners  whom  they  were  holding  for  ransom 
into  San  Antonio  and  deliver  them  to  their  families,  and 
make  a  treaty  with  the  Republic.  Three  commissioners  were 
named  by  the  Government  to  meet  the  Comanche  Chiefs. 

On  March  19th,  thirty-two  warriors  with  their  women 
and  children  came  in  for  the  pow  wow..  Twelve  Chiefs 
met  the  three  commissioners  at  the  Stone  Council  House, 
and  the  talk  was  opened  by  the  surrender  of  Colonel  Lock- 
hart 's  daughter,  who  had  been  captured  at  Gonzales  the 
year  before.  Colonel  Fisher,  one  of  the  commissioners, 
asked  them  where  the  other  prisoners  were,  and  they  re- 
plied that  she  was  the  only  one  they  had.  The  Lockhart  girl 
then  related  that  there  were  others  in  their  camps  whom 
they  were  holding  back  for  larger  ransoms. 

Colonel  Fisher  told  them  of  their  wickedness,  and  de- 
manded that  they  bring  in  the  other  prisoners,  and  named 
thirteen  persons  whom  they  were  known  to  have  captured 
within  recent  months.  Turning  full  upon  them,  he  said: 
''Do  you  remember  murdering  two  men,  and  carrying 
away  this  girl  (Miss  Lockhart)  when  you  were  returning 
from  Houston  last  year  under  a  flag  of  truce  ? ' '  There  was 
a  silence  for  a  moment  after  this  challenge,  when  one  of 
the  chiefs  arose,  and  standing  his  full  height  said,  with 
haughty  insolence,  ' '  No,  we  do  not  recollect, ' '  and  sat  down. 
There  was  another  pause,  and  he  rose  again  and  defiantly 
said  to  Colonel  Fisher:  "How  do  you  like  our  answer?" 

182 


THE  PRAIRIE  INDIANS 

Colonel  Fisher  replied,  "I  do  not  like  your  answer.  I 
told  you  not  to  come  here  without  all  your  prisoners;  your 
women  and  braves  may  depart  in  peace,  but  we  will  hold 
your  chiefs  as  hostages  until  the  other  white  captives  are 
brought  in." 

At  this  moment  Captain  Howard  marched  in  a  company 
of  fifty  soldiers.  Instantly  the  Indians  strung  their  bows 
and  gave  the  war  whoop.  One  of  them  sprang  upon  Cap- 
tain Howard,  striking  him  down  with  a  knife.  In  the  in- 
terval of  a  few  seconds  all  the  chiefs  were  slain.  There 
were  twenty  warriors  without  the  building  and  when  they 
heard  the  war  whoop  inside,  they  all  at  once  attacked  the 
people,  but  all  of  them  were  killed  save  one,  who  escaped  in- 
to a  house.  Wishing  to  spare  him,  they  sent  an  Indian  wo- 
man to  tell  him  that  they  would  allow  him  to  leave  the  house 
unmolested  if  he  would  go  peacefully.  He  defied  them,  and 
refused  their  permission,  and  stepped  from  the  building 
with  his  bow  strung  and  ready  for  combat. 

Mrs.  Samuel  Mavrick,  in  her  diary  published  many  years 
after,  relates  that  she,  with  a  crowd  of  bystanders,  was 
watching  some  small  Indian  boys  who  had  come  in  with  the 
party  do  some  clever  target  shooting  at  a  tree  on  the 
river  bank.  When  the  war  whoop  sounded  and  before  the 
on  lookers  realized  what  it  meant,  one  of  these  boys  turned 
like  a  flash  and  shot  an  arrow  into  the  crowd,  striking  a 
by-stander  in  the  heart.  Years  of  terrible  bloody  warfare 
with  the  Comanches  and  their  allied  tribes  followed  this 
fateful  day. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  later  they  were  still  on  the  war- 
path on  the  northwestern  frontier,  and  my  father  was  in 
many  a  battle  with  them.  The  year  I  was  born,  1873,  a 
party  of  Comanches  murdered  a  family  within  a  few  miles 
of  our  frontier  home. 


183 


THE  SANTA  FE  EXPEDITION 

IX. 
THE  SANTA  FE  EXPEDITION. 

Lamar's  administration,  1838-1841,  represented  in  most 
respects  the  very  opposite  of  that  of  General  Houston,  which 
preceded  it,  and  the  second  administration  of  Houston, 
which  immediately  followed.  Houston  would  conciliate  the 
Indians — Lamar  would  exterminate  them.  Their  financial 
and  foreign  policies  differed.  Lamar  would  have  a  bank 
with  certain  restrictions — Houston,  as  the  disciple  of  Jack- 
son, regarded  a  national  bank  as  a  vile  institution.  General 
Houston  was  not  eligible  under  the  constitution  to  succeed 
himself  in  1838,  but  he  was  during  the  entire  three-year 
term  of  Lamar,  a  candidate  to  succeed  Lamar,  and  during 
this  interval  was  elected  to  the  Congress  of  the  Republic, 
where  he  devoted  himself  largely  to  consistent  opposition  to 
the  Lamar  administration. 

The  ill-fated  Santa  Fe  expedition  was  generally  regarded 
as  the  greatest  failure  of  Lamar,  whose  entire  term  was  re- 
plete with  disasters,  due,  however,  in  most  instances  to 
causes  beyond  the  aid  of  statesmanship. 

After  the  Revolution  in  1836,  Texas  had  always  claimed 
the  Rio  Grande  as  its  boundary  and  had  been  ambitious 
enough  to  contend  for  all  the  territory  along  that  river 
to  its  source  in  what  is  now  the  Colorado,  thence  to  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  United  States,  and  back  in  some  indefinable 
way  to  Red  River. 

Word  came  to  Texas  in  1839  that  the  people  of  Santa  Fe, 
which  was  on  the  east  of  the  Rio  Grande,  hence  technically 
Texas  territory,  were  hostile  to  the  Mexican  Government, 
and  had  rebelled  and  murdered  a  governor  sent  out  from 
the  City  of  Mexico. 


184 


THE  SANTA  FE  EXPEDITION 

Word  also  came  that  the  inhabitants  of  that  remote  place 
and  the  environs  thereabout  might  be  induced  to  acknowl- 
edge Texas  sovereignty. 

There  was  much  discussion  during  '39  and  '40  of  a  pro- 
posed expedition  to  Santa  Fe,  and  an  effort  to  divert  the 
large  trade  which  was  carried  on  between  that  region  and 
St.  Louis  to  some  gulf  port. 

A  bill  was  urged  in  Congress  for  an  appropriation  for 
such  a  project,  but  it  was  defeated  largely  by  the  influence 
of  Representative  Sam  Houston.  Lamar  determined,  how- 
ever, to  send  it  anyway,  and,  early  in  1841,  named  Hugh 
McLeod  military  commander,  authorizing  him  to  raise  vol- 
unteers for  the  expedition. 

President  Lamar,  who  was  great  on  proclamations,  and, 
like  another  President  we  have  seen  in  our  own  day,  a  bril- 
liant writer,  issued  a  salutary  declaration,  offering  the 
people  of  that  remote  place  the  blessings  of  Texas  citizen- 
ship, and  it  was  sent  ahead  by  one  Dryden,  an  American 
merchant  who  had  lately  lived  at  Santa  Fe.  A  commission 
was  created  to  set  up  a  government  there  when  the  people 
voluntarily  accepted  our  proffered  blessings,  although  the 
military  were  warned  not  to  force  submission  upon  these 
people,  but  to  merely  conquer  them  and  set  up  a  new  gov- 
ernment if  they  were  willing  to  be  conquered  and  have 
a  new  government.  The  commission  was  directed  to  take 
possession  of  all  public  buildings  and  governmental  agen- 
cies, provided  it  could  be  done  peacefully.  With  these  im- 
possible instructions,  the  expedition  moved  out  on  June 
21,  1841,  and  took  its  long  weary  way  across  roadless  wilds 
for  nearly  one  thousand  miles.  There  were  about  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy  volunteer  soldiers,  accompanied  by  fifty 
odd  merchant  traders  and  other  persons.  In  one  month 
they  made  two  hundred  miles,  and  in  September,  after 

185 


THE  SANTA  FE  EXPEDITION 

hardships  almost  unbelievable,  they  were  in  what  is  now 
New  Mexico. 

They  suffered  from  drouth  and  for  food,  and  were  har- 
rassed  by  Indians,  and  late  in  September  a  detachment  was 
sent  ahead  the  main  body  limping  along  in  the  rear. 

Governor  Armijo,  fully  apprised  of  their  approach,  was 
on  the  lookout  for  them,  and  with  a  show  of  military 
force  and  through  the  treachery  of  a  young  lieutenant, 
Lewis,  who  was  one  of  the  Texas  party,  both  divisions  of  the 
bedraggled  expedition  were  induced  to  lay  down  their  arms, 
which  they  did  as  an  evidence  of  the  perfectly  pacific  pur- 
poses for  which  President  Lamar  had  sent  them. 

They  were  no  sooner  disarmed  than  all  of  them  were 
started  on  foot  as  prisoners  for  the  City  of  Mexico,  in 
charge  of  a  base  brute  named  Salazar.  Some  died  by  the 
wayside  from  starvation  and  sickness.  Others  were  mur- 
dered by  their  guards,  and  those  hardy  enough  to  survive  a 
twelve-hundred-mile  march  under  such  circumstances  were 
thrown  into  dungeons  in  the  City  of  Mexico  when  they 
reached  there. 

After  a  time  they  were  all  released.  George  W.  Kendall, 
one  of  the  proprietors  and  founders  of  the  New  Orleans 
"Picayune,"  accompanied  the  expedition  from  Austin, 
and  after  a  long  imprisonment  was  released  in  the  City  of 
Mexico  the  next  year.  In  1841:  he  published  Kendall's 
"Santa  Fe  Expedition,"  which  is,  from  a  standpoint  of  hu- 
man interest  and  literary  merit,  the  greatest  book  that  has 
ever  been  written  about  Texas  and  the  Texans.  It  created 
a  great  sensation  in  its  day,  and  was  widely  read  in  America 
and  Europe. 

One  reading  it  now  after  eighty  years  is  charmed  with  its 
literary  style  and  splendid  narrative.  His  description  of 
the  journey  across  Texas,  the  capture  near  Santa  Fe,  the 


186 


THE  SANTA  FE  EXPEDITION 

story  of  the  tyrant  Armijo,  the  long,  terrible  march  to  Mex- 
ico, and  above  all  his  wonderful  glimpses  of  the  City  of 
Mexico  after  he  was  liberated  by  Santa  Anna,  should  be 
read  by  every  Texan  of  every  generation.  Taken  at  random 
from  the  pages  of  this  wonderful  book,  I  relate  his  story  of 
Lieutenant  Homsby's  ride : 

"We  were  being  marched  along  at  a  rapid  pace  and  near- 
ing  Albuquerque  when  a  single  horseman  was  seen  speed- 
ing across  the  fields. 

"Soon  he  was  up  with  the  rear  of  our  party,  when  check- 
ing his  horse  into  a  prancing  canter,  he  politely  raised  his 
hat  and  addressed  the  prisoners  as  gentlemen  while  riding 
along  the  line.  His  horse  was  a  beautiful  black  charger, 
and  he  a  handsome  young  Mexican,  dressed  in  green  velvet 
trousers  with  a  neatly  fitting  jacket  somewhat  faded  and 
worn. 

1 '  The  horseman  rode  twice  up  and  down  the  line  of  pris- 
oners, nodding  gracefully  as  he  passed,  and  eyeing  the 
crowd  as  though  in  search  of  someone.  Bye  and  bye  his  eye 
fell  on  Lieutenant  Hornsby,  the  best  dressed  man  among 
us.  His  Texas  Dragoon  jacket  was  new  and  his  blanket  was 
showy  red. 

'  *  The  cavalier  at  once  checked  his  horse  on  seeing  Horns- 
by, and  asked  the  Lieutenant  if  he  were  tired.  The  long 
march  had  fatigued  us  all,  and  when  Hornsby  answered 
in  the  affirmative,  the  horseman  bade  him  mount  behind 
and  said  he  would  carry  him  a  pace  and  rest  his  weary  limbs. 
Instantly  Hornsby  was  seated  behind  his  new  friend.  In  a 
moment  the  rider  wheeled  his  horse,  plunged  heavy  spurs 
into  his  flanks,  and  dashed  away  at  a  speed  that  was  truly 
amazing,  across  the  fields,  jumping  irrigating  ditches.  We 
were  being  marched  on  towards  Albuquerque,  but  as  best 
we  could,  watched  the  fleeing  figures  until  all  we  could  see 


187 


THE  SANTA  FE  EXPEDITION 

was  Hornsby's  red  blanket  disappearing  in  the  distance. 
Later  in  the  same  day  after  we  had  been  marched 
out  of  Albuquerque,  the  horseman  reappeared  bringing 
Hornsby  with  him  and  dropping  him  along  the  line  gal- 
loped away.  The  Lieutenant  wore  instead  of  his  Texas 
Dragoon  coat,  a  half  worn  jacket  much  too  small,  and  his 
showy  red  blanket  was  gone. 

"He  related  this  story:  A  hard  ride  of  three  or  four 
miles  brought  them  to  a  house  of  somewhat  neater  con- 
struction than  other  Mexican  dwellings.  It  was  a  solitary 
house  half  a  mile  from  the  road.  Here  they  dismounted, 
and  the  Mexican  politely  lead  the  way  into  a  room  in  which 
the  furniture  and  appointments  were  luxurious.  Scriptural 
paintings  adorned  the  walls,  and  the  sideboard  bore  de- 
canters and  cut  glass,  and  the  Lieutenant  was  invited  to  help 
himself  to  a  decanter  of  brandy.  At  this  moment  the  wife 
of  the  cavalier,  a  mild  eyed  woman,  entered,  and  graciously 
lead  the  way  to  the  dining  room,  where  they  all  three  par- 
took of  a  splendid  breakfast.  Both  husband  and  wife 
were  assiduous  in  their  attentions,  and  pressed  dish  after 
dish  upon  Hornsby  with  a  most  zealous  courtesy.  After 
breakfast  the  good  wife  brought  cigarettes,  and  while  they 
smoked  the  host  opened  the  business  which  had  induced  him 
to  invite  the  Lieutenant  to  his  dwelling. 

"He  had  taken  a  fancy  to  Hornsby's  neat  fitting  Texas 
Dragoon  coat,  and  would  exchange  his  somewhat  faded  and 
worn  jacket  for  it.  The  guest  protested  he  did  not  want 
to  exchange  his  coat,  besides,  the  proffered  jacket  was  much 
too  small  for  him.  But  the  Mexican  insisted,  though  the 
wife  protested,  and  Hornsby  was  compelled  to  doff  his 
coat  and  was  helped  into  the  ill-fitting,  shoddy  jacket, 
which  he  wore  when  he  was  returned  to  us.  The  Mexican 
then  brought  a  heavy,  coarse  blanket  and  exchanged  it  for 

188 


HOUSTON'S  SECOND  ADMINISTRATION 

Hornsby's  bright  red  one.  Indeed  this  last  exchange  was  a 
good  one,  for  the  heavier  blanket  well  served  the  Lieutenant 
on  his  1200  mile  tramp  to  the  City  of  Mexico. 

"This  business  done,  the  Mexican  indicated  that  he  was 
ready  to  return,  and  the  Lieutenant,  now  somewhat  at 
home,  walked  to  the  sideboard  and  poured  himself  a  stiff 
glass  of  brandy,  and  bowing  to  the  host,  tossed  it  off. 

"As  they  left  the  house  to  mount  and  ride,  the  wife  fol- 
lowed, and  gave  Hornsby  a  large  quantity  of  dried  beef, 
and  when  her  husband's  eyes  were  away,  stealthily  slipped 
a  quarter  of  a  dollar  into  his  hand  and  murmered,  'Adios, 
Senor. '  And  away  they  rode  across  the  fields,  and  the 
Lieutenant  was  restored  to  us  wearing  a  worn  jacket  much 
too  small  and  without  his  red  blanket." 


X. 

• 

HOUSTON'S  SECOND  ADMINISTRATION. 

One  studying  the  history  of  Texas  from  the  beginning  of 
our  era  in  1821  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  in 
1835,  is  impressed  with  the  fact  that  it  is  a  biography  of 
Stephen  F.  Austin. 

The  annals  of  the  second  epoch,  1835  to  statehood  in  1846, 
are  equally  impressed  with  the  great  genius  of  Houston. 

He  became  President  a  second  time  in  December,  1841, 
and  Edward  Burleson  was  Vice-President. 

The  year  1842  was  the  most  critical  in  the  life  of  the  Re- 
public. 

The  country 's  finances  were  impossible.  It  had  no  credit 
at  home  or  abroad.  The  Indians,  stirred  by  the  vigorous 


189 


HOUSTON'S  SECOND  ADMINISTRATION 

extermination  policy  of  Lamar,  but  not  exterminated,  car- 
ried the  torch  along  the  whole  frontier.  The  sad  failure  of 
the  Santa  Fe  Expedition  had  brought  gloom  into  every  com- 
munity in  Texas  and  tears  for  some  citizen  who  had  gone 
with  MeLeod  and  whose  fate  was  unknown. 

Santa  Anna,  who  was  in  power  again  in  Mexico,  sought 
this  as  a  propitious  time  to  increase  hostilities,  and  in  March 
a  Mexican  army  under  Vasquez  suddenly  appeared  before 
San  Antonio,  and  after  occupying  the  city  a  few  days,  hur- 
riedly retreated  across  the  Rio  Grande  before  a  force  could 
be  raised  to  meet  them. 

But  it  is  significant  that  in  a  very  short  time  thirty-five 
hundred  Texans  were  mustered  from  west  of  the  Brazos  and 
on  the  way  to  Bexar.  But  they  were  only  minute  men,  un- 
able to  leave  their  families  for  a  campaign,  and  without 
military  equipment.  About  the  same  time  Mexican  forces 
from  across  the  lower  Bio  Grande  came  as  far  as  Goliad. 
The  fact  that  a  Mexican  army  had  come  within  eighty  miles 
of  the  Capital,  and  the  constant  inroads  of  the  Comanches 
about  Austin  caused  President  Houston  to  convene  Con- 
gress in  June,  1842,  in  the  City  of  Houston. 

In  September  of  this  year  a  second  invasion,  lead  by 
Adrian  Woll,  captured  San  Antonio  and  carried  away 
many  citizens.  District  Court  was  in  session  and  the 
Judge  and  lawyers  were  taken  along. 

Woll  made  a  move  as  though  he  would  go  on  to  Austin, 
but  encountered  a  small  force  of  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  men  under  Colonel  Caldwell  a  few  miles  out  of  San 
Antonio.  Volunteers  from  nearby  counties  were  hastening 
to  the  relief  of  Bexar,  and  one  company  of  fifty-odd  men 
rode  out  of  LaGrange  lead  by  Captain  Dawson,  and  came 
upon  the  rear  of  Woll's  army.  Unable  to  effect  a  juncture 
with  Caldwell 's  men,  Dawson's  entire  company  were  killed 

190 


HOUSTON'S  SECOND  ADMINISTRATION 

or  captured  in  a  bloody  encounter  fought  on  Salado  Creek. 
Again  the  Mexicans  learning  that  the  country  was  aroused 
and  men  marching  against  them,  scampered  across  the  Rio 
Grande  before  a  sufficient  force  could  be  mustered  to  meet 
them. 

There  was  a  wild  shriek  over  all  Texas  for  retaliatory 
war  and  an  invasion  of  Mexico,  and  a  command  of  about 
twelve  hundred  men  under  General  Alexander  Somerville 
marched  as  far  as  the  border,  but  it  was  without  supplies 
or  equipment  for  an  offensive  campaign. 

All  during  the  year  volunteers  from  the  States  came  into 
Texas  in  great  numbers,  hoping  to  be  enlisted  in  a  Mex- 
ican campaign.  But  the  Government  was  without  means 
to  care  for  or  equip  them,  and  in  many  instances  they  were 
desperate  fellows,  and  when  unable  to  go  to  war  in  Mexico 
made  much  trouble  in  Texas. 

After  some  marches  and  counter-marches  up  and  down 
the  Rio  Grande,  Somerville 's  army  returned  home,  but  a 
small  detachment  of  daring  fellows  would  invade  Mexico, 
and  three  hundred  of  them  elected  Captain  William  S. 
Fisher  as  their  leader,  and  crossed  the  river  and  laid  siege 
to  the  town  of  Mier.  After  hard  fighting  and  many  losses, 
they  were  compelled  to  capitulate  to  vastly  superior  num- 
bers, and  were  started  on  a  long  journey  to  the  City  of 
Mexico.  After  many  days  the  prisoners  by  concerted  ac- 
tion managed  to  escape,  but  they  were  in  the  heart  of  Mex- 
ico, and  were  unable  to  reach  the  border,  and  one  hundred 
and  sixty  of  the  original  three  hundred  and  four  who  had 
first  crossed  over  for  a  conquest  of  Mexico  were  recaptured 
and  brought  up  to  a  place  where,  under  orders  from  Santa 
Anna,  each  tenth  man  was  shot. 

One  hundred  and  sixty  beans  were  put  in  a  jar,  one- 
tenth  of  them  were  black,  the  others  white,  and  the  Texans 


191 


HOUSTON'S  SECOND  ADMINISTRATION 

were  made  to  draw  and  those  who  drew  black  beans  were 
forthwith  shot  to  death. 

The  Mexican  authorities  were  very  anxious  for  the 
honor  of  martyrdom  to  fall  on  Captain  Ewing  Cameron, 
and  he  was  made  to  draw  first,  but  got  a  white  bean. 

After  this  decimation  the  remaining  prisoners  were  start- 
ed again  for  Mexico,  and  as  they  neared  the  city  orders 
came  to  shoot  Captain  Cameron  at  once,  and  they  were 
promptly  obeyed.  The  remnant  reached  the  Capital  while 
the  Santa  Fe  prisoners  were  yet  in  dungeons.  The  fre- 
quency of  Mexican  raids  upon  San  Antonio  and  the  con- 
stant fear  that  Austin  might  be  included  in  the  next  excur- 
sion made  it  unsafe  to  keep  the  seat  of  Government  there 
for  a  time,  and  Houston  held  forth  at  Washington  on  the 
Brazos,  where  he  convened  the  regular  session  of  the  Sev- 
enth Congress  in  November,  1842.  This  aroused  much  ire 
among  the  frontier  folks  on  the  Colorado,  who  successfully 
resisted  the  removal  of  the  archives.  The  greatest  effort  of 
Houston's  second  administration  was  to  bring  about  annex- 
ation with  the  United  States,  which  he  cleverly  aided  by 
open  negotiations  with  England  designated  to  arouse  the 
people  in  the  States  with  the  danger  of  English  sovereignty 
in  Texas. 

Justin  H.  Smith,  recently  professor  of  Modern  History  in 
Dartmouth  College,  has  written  an  elaborate  work  upon  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  and  speaking  of  Houston  at  this  epoch 
says :  '  *  Endowed  with  a  remarkably  fertile  and  crafty  mind, 
trained  successfully  as  an  American  politician,  finished  in 
the  school  of  Indian  cunning,  a  gambler  of  long  experience, 
a  genius  in  the  art  of  political  histrionics,  a  diplomat  whose 
only  idea  of  method  was  to  triumph  and  not  be  found  out, 
a  statesman  able  and  determined,  Houston  worked  in  a  sit- 
uation beautifully  adapted  to  facilitate  the  concealment  of 

192 


<fe    «i    & 


§    § 

M.    CD 


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o  g: 

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HOUSTON'S  SECOND  ADMINISTRATION 

his  aims."  A  report  made  by  a  British  agent  to  his  Gov- 
ernment about  this  time  said  of  him :  '  *  He  is  pure  handed 
and  manly,  actuated  by  a  grand  ambition  to  associate  his 
name  with  a  nation's  rise." 

About  this  critical  time  in  our  history,  John  Tyler,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  initiated  a  move  to  annex  Texas, 
which  after  three  years  of  varying  fortune  triumphed  in 
the  closing  hours  of  his  administration.  But  the  salvation 
of  Texas  in  these  gloomy  years  was  the  constant  stream  of 
immigration  which  flowed  across  its  borders  without  ceas- 
ing, so  that  the  thirty  thousand  at  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion were  one  hundred  thousand  at  the  time  of  annexation. 


193 


ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS. 

i. 

THE  PROCLAMATION  OF  LA  SALLE. 

The  evolutions  in  History ;  the  various  changes  in  sover- 
eignty through  which  Texas  passed  from  the  primitive  plain 
and  wilderness  to  statehood,  must  be  of  interest  to  this  gen- 
eration. "Not  to  know  what  happened  before  you  were 
born  is  to  always  be  a  child. ' ' 

It  was  a  strange  theory  which  the  European  nations  em- 
ployed by  which  each  claimed  portions  of  the  Americas 
based  upon  exploration  and  discovery. 

It  never  seriously  occurred  to  any  of  these  so-called  civi- 
lized nations  that  the  Indian  inhabitants  who  had  peopled 
these  continents  for  countless  ages  had  any  title  to  their 
native  land,  any  rights  which  need  be  respected.  Strange 
even  to  romance  are  the  events  by  which  the  fair  laud, 
which  now  bears  the  name  of  Texas,  has  passed  from  flag  to 
flag. 

There  was  a  three-hundred-year  race  among  the  nations 
of  Europe  for  possessions  in  the  New  World,  each  country 
basing  its  claims  upon  explorations  and  discoveries  made  by 
persons  flying  its  flag.  Spanish  adventurers  first  reached 
the  mainland  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  Spain 's  title 
to  the  Floridas  was  recognized  because  of  explorations  of 
DeLeon  and  De  Soto,  about  fifty  years  after  Columbus' 
first  voyage.  Then  there  was  a  lapse  of  more  than  one 
hundred  years  after  De  Soto,  on  his  fruitless  gold  hunt, 

195 


THE  PROCLAMATION  OF  LA  SALLE 

discovered  the  Mississippi  River,  until  La  Salle,  the  French- 
man, coming  from  Canada,  sailed  down  it  to  the  sea. 

On  April  9,  1682,  this  enterprising  individual  stood  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  great  river  near  where  New  Orleans 
is  now  located,  surrounded  by  a  small  company  of  daring 
Frenchmen,  and  by  a  process  verbal  named  and  claimed  the 
country  far  and  wide  for  his  monarch.  They  unfurled  the 
flag  of  France,  reared  a  rude  cross,  buried  a  plate,  and  in 
a  loud  tone  of  voice  proclaimed  the  sovereignty  of  France 
over  the  lands  traversed  by  the  river  and  its  tributaries, 
and  christened  the  country  Louisiana,  for  the  * '  Grand  Mon- 
arque,"  Louis  XIV.  How  far  this  verbal  proclamation 
reached,  and  what  were  the  boundaries  of  the  new  province, 
were  matters  much  debated,  though  never  settled  in  the 
centuries  to  come. 

Some  said  they  crossed  the  Rockies  to  the  northwest 
coast. 

Others  that  they  extended  east  including  west  Florida. 

Others  that  they  embraced  all  Texas  down  to  the  Rio 
Grande. 

This  last  claim  was  given  much  force  by  the  fact  that 
LaSalle  came  again  to  the  Gulf  Coast  in  1685  and  founded 
a  colony  on  Matagorda  Bay,  and  lost  his  life  here  in 
Texas. 

After  his  death  and  the  failure  of  his  Colony,  the  Span- 
iards through  Mexico  made  feeble,  futile  efforts  at  settle- 
ments here,  claiming  the  country  as  part  of  Mexico,  but 
they  succeeded  little  better  than  the  French  had  done. 

Another  hundred  years  rolled  around  and  Louisiana  and 
Texas  were  yet  wild,  vast  and  unknown.  France  had  made 
settlements  in  Canada,  and  controlled  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
the  Great  Lakes.  The  English  had  colonized  along  the  At- 
Inatic  seaboard,  and  the  Spaniard  yet  held  the  Floridas, 


196 


THE  PROCLAMATION  OF  LA  SALLE 

and  all  Mexico,  or  New  Spain,  as  it  was  called.  There  were 
some  French  settlements  on  the  Mississippi,  and  New  Or- 
leans had  become  a  port  of  some  importance. 

Then  came  the  French  and  Indian  wars  in  jthe  middle 
of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  and  France  and  England  fought 
for  long  bloody  years  over  the  valley  of  the  Ohio. 

Seeing  that  England  would  win,  France  hurriedly  handed 
Louisiana  over  to  Spain  in  1762  to  keep  it  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  England,  and,  curiously  enough,  Napoleon 
hurriedly  sold  it  to  the  United  States  forty  years  later  to 
keep  it  out  of  England's  hands.  And  the  United 
States  annexed  Texas  in  1845  to  keep  it  of  Eng- 
land's hands.  After  this  cession  to  Spain  in  1762  and 
while  Spain  held  Louisiana,  the  title  to  Texas  was 
conceded  to  be  Spanish  whether  it  be  treated  as  part 
of  Louisiana  or  part  of  Mexico.  At  the  close  of  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution,  Spanish  sovereignty  was  acknowledged 
over  Louisiana,  the  Floridas,  Texas,  Mexico,  and  all  the 
lands  around  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  claimed  all  of  North 
America  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  there  was  no  one  then 
to  seriously  dispute  this  claim. 

But  while  the  Colonies  (now  become  the  States)  did  not 
then  covet  more  land,  they  did  set  great  store  by  the  right 
to  navigate  the  Mississippi  River.  They  claimed  the  coun- 
try west  to  the  river  and  south  to  the  31st  parallel,  or  about 
to  a  line  from  Natchez,  Miss.,  east,  following  certain  ob- 
jects to  the  Atlantic.  Since,  however,  the  lower  river  and  its 
entrance  to  the  Gulf  ran  through  Spanish  territory,  it  was 
a  matter  of  much  moment  to  have  for  the  people  of  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee  and  all  the  territories  west  of  the  Al- 
leghenies  the  right  to  navigate  the  river  to  its  mouth  and 
reach  the  Atlantic  seaboard  by  way  of  the  Gulf. 

After  some  years  of  negotiation,  a  treaty  was  concluded  in 


197 


NAPOLEON'S  FIRST  EFFORT  AT  KING  MAKING 

1795  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  giving  us  the 
right  to  navigate  the  river,  and  depot  facilities  for  goods 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  river  at  New  Orleans.  For  the  time 
being  this  seemed  all  our  country  could  want.  The  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century  saw  England  in  control  of  Canada, 
and  the  United  States  of  the  country  to  the  Spanish  pos- 
sessions south  and  west,  and  Spain  the  nominal  master  of 
the  greater  part  of  North  America. 

Thus  far  little  detail  had  been  given  to  boundaries,  and 
fully  four-fifths  of  all  North  America  was  uninhabited  and 
more  than  half  of  it  yet  unexplored.  Texas  was  little  more 
than  a  name  on  a  map  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. In  a  feeble  way  Spain  had  exercised  a  nominal  au- 
thority over  the  country  for  a  century  or  more,  and  in  an 
effort  to  reclaim  it  had  built  missions  at  various  places 
where  Franciscan  Fathers  labored  to  tame  and  save  the  Red 
Brother.  But  the  Indian  did  not  take  kindly  to  being 
tamed  and  saved  and  the  missions  were  failures.  Some  of 
them  still  stand  after  another  hundred  years  have  rolled 
around,  the  last  mute  evidence  of  Spanish  sovereignty. 


II. 
NAPOLEON'S  FIRST  EFFORT  AT  KING  MAKING. 

The  dawn  of  the  nineteenth  century  saw  strange  things 
transpiring  throughout  the  world,  and  perhaps  the  strang- 
est was  tHe  case  of  the  young  islander  who  had  come  to 
France  and  during  the  Revolution  made  himself  master  of 
that  bloody,  turbulent  country. 

Napoleon,  then  thirty  years  old,  was  First  Consul  of  the 
Republic,  and  planned  to  become,  as  he  shortly  afterwards 

198 


NAPOLEON'S  FIRST  EFFORT  AT  KING  MAKING 

did,  and  Emperor.  He  had  lately  led  victorious  armies  in 
Egypt  and  Italy,  and  assumed  a  mastery  over  the  Italian 
cities  and  states.  Down  in  Italy  not  far  beyond  the  Alps 
was  the  old  Roman  City  of  Parma,  which  had  withstood 
the  wars  of  centuries  and  had  been  made  a  dukedom  or 
Duchy  by  some  of  the  Popes  four  hundred  years  before. 
In  the  course  of  the  eternal  conflict  which  had  prevailed 
among  the  so-called  great  powers  of  Europe,  this  had  be- 
come an  appendage  of  the  Spanish  Crown,  and  at  this  time 
the  Duke  of  Parma  was  the  nephew  and  son-in-law  of 
Charles  the  IV,  the  Bourbon  King  of  Spain. 

The  Duke  of  Parma  wanted  to  be  a  king,  and  this  fact 
was  related  to  Napoleon,  who  had  the  same  ambition  on  a 
larger  scale.  And  it  suited  the  purpose  of  this  strange,  rest- 
less person  to  make  a  king  out  of  this  degenerate  Bourbon 
Duke.  So  that  it  came  to  pass  that  a  kingdom,  warranted 
to  contain  not  less  than  one  million  souls,  was  created  by 
Napoleon  in  Northern  Italy  about  Parma,  and  named  Etru- 
ria,  following  in  part  the  boundaries  of  a  Roman  Province 
of  the  same  name.  And  the  young  Duke  of  Parma  and  his 
pretty  little  Spanish  bride,  the  daughter  of  twenty  kings, 
came  down  to  Paris  to  apply  to  Bonaparte,  the  Republican 
First  Consul,  for  a  kingdom  and  a  crown.  Amidst  festivi- 
ties and  gayeties  such  as  have  often  prevailed  in  Paris, 
Napoleon  began  his  career  as  a  king  maker,  and  made  this 
youthful  pair  King  and  Queen  of  Etruria,  and  bestowed 
upon  them  the  hereditary  title  of  Rulers  of  an  Italian  King- 
dom of  one  million  human  souls  over  which  he  had  no  sem- 
blance of  right  to  rule,  and  yet  less  to  bestow  upon  others  as 
a  bounty.  But  the  Duke  of  Parma  was  happy  to  be  a  king, 
and  his  pretty  little  Spanish  bride,  daughter  of  so  many 
kings,  was  glad  to  be  a  queen,  and  the  young  Corsican  was 
glad  to  begin  the  experiment  of  setting  up  kingdoms  and 

199 


THE   LOUISIANA   PURCHASE 

making  kings,  for  that  was  to  be  his  chief  occupation  in  the 
years  to  come. 

But  in  the  hurried  recital  of  these  interesting  things,  I 
almost  overlooked  relating  an  incident,  for  such  it  was.  Na- 
poleon exacted  a  fee  from  the  Spanish  King  for  the  bounty 
of  this  Italian  kingdom  of  one  million  souls,  and  King 
Charles,  who  was  land  poor,  gave  him  Louisiana. 

And  so  it  happened  on  October  1,  1800,  that  the  Secret 
Treaty  of  San  Ildefonso  was  signed  (for  this  was  before  the 
blessed  day  of  open  covenants),  and  his  Catholic  Majesty 
receded  all  of  Louisiana  to  France,  from  whom  Spain  had 
acquired  it  forty  years  before.  And  the  wild  province  which 
had  been  proclaimed  and  named  by  La  Salle  to  embrace  all 
the  lands  traversed  and  watered  by  the  Mississippi  and  its 
tributaries  became  French  again.  What  were  the  bound- 
aries of  the  vast  realm  bartered  for  a  petty  Italian  king- 
dom ?  Some  said  they  crossed  the  Rockies  to  the  northwest 
coast.  Others  that  they  extended  east  and  embraced  west 
Florida.  Others  that  they  embraced  all  Texas  down  to  the 
Bio  Grande.  And  so  it  happened  that  Texas  and  some  ten 
other  of  our  now  American  States  were  lightly  bartered  to 
make  a  petty  duke  a  petty  king  in  a  land  thousands  of  miles 
from  these  shores. 


III. 
THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE. 

Rufus  King,  our  Minister  to  England,  heard  rumors  of 
the  secret  recession  of  Louisiana  to  France  in  return  for 
an  Italian  kingdom,  as  early  as  March,  1801,  and  wrote  to 

200 


THE   LOUISIANA   PURCHASE 

James  Madison,  our  Secretary  of  State,  advising  of  the 
report. 

Our  ministers  to  England,  France  and  Spain  were  at  once 
charged  to  learn  the  facts,  for  this  country  was  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  affair.  But  the  contracting  parties  were  very 
reticent  about  giving  out  information,  and  though  Chancel- 
lor Livingston,  our  Minister  to  France,  was  very  diligent 
and  inquisitive,  it  was  nearly  a  year  before  he  had  a  first 
hand  confirmation  of  the  secret  bargain. 

President  Jefferson  was  much  moved  by  the  danger  of  a 
powerful  neighbor  in  control  of  the  Lower  Mississippi.  In 
April,  1802,  he  wrote  Livingston:  "There  is  on  this  globe 
a  single  spot  the  possessor  of  which  is  our  natural  habitual 
enemy.  It  is  New  Orleans,  through  which  the  produce  of 
three-eighths  of  our  territory  must  pass  to  market.  France 
placing  herself  in  that  door,  assumes  to  us  the  attitude  of  de- 
fiance. Spain  might  have  retained  it  quietly  for  years.  Her 
feeble  state  is  such  that  her  possession  of  the  place  would 
hardly  be  felt  by  us  and  it  would  not  be  long  before  some 
circumstance  might  arise  which  would  make  the  cession  to 
us  worth  her  while.  The  day  France  takes  possession  of 
Louisiana,  we  must  marry  ourselves  to  the  British  fleet. ' ' 

Then  came  a  long  year  of  negotiations  for  the  purchase 
of  a  site  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Livingston  was  unable 
to  get  the  French  statesman  to  talk  to  him  with  any  free- 
dom. At  one  time  after  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  San  Ilde- 
fonso  were  generally  known  Talleyrand  sought  to  deny  to 
Livingston  that  France  had  acquired  Louisiana,  and  ad- 
vised him  to  apply  to  Spain  if  he  wanted  to  purchase  any 
part  of  the  territory.  Just  at  this  juncture  the  Spanish 
Intendant  at  New  Orleans  aggravated  matters  very  much  by 
annulling  the  treaty  of  1795  between  the  United  States  and 


201 


THE  LOUISIANA   PURCHASE 

Spain,  and  closing  New  Orleans  to  ships  bearing  American 
merchandise  and  products. 

This  caused  a  tremendous  stir  in  all  the  western  country, 
and  Livingston  promptly  advised  Talleyrand  that  since 
Spain  still  owned  Louisiana,  as  he  intimated,  we  would 
know  how  to  deal  with  her,  and  if  she  would  permit  a  petty 
official  at  New  Orleans  to  annul  a  national  treaty,  we  would 
take  possession  of  the  port  and  open  it  to  our  commerce  and 
deal  with  Spain  on  the  ground.  This  prompt  direct  state- 
ment soon  brought  an  admission  that  Louisiana  had  passed 
back  to  France,  but  they  said  that  it  was  not  for  sale.  The 
act  of  the  Spanish  Intendant  at  New  Orleans  in  1802  annul- 
ling the  privilege  of  depot  facilities  for  American  goods, 
caused  much  excitement  in  the  United  States,  and  Pres- 
ident Jafferson  knew  that  if  this  country  could  not  pur- 
chase New  Orleans  and  the  unrestricted  right  to  use  the 
Lower  Mississippi,  that  it  would  only  be  a  matter  of  a  few 
years  when  the  westerners  would  take  it  by  force.  In 
fact  a  resolution  was  offered  in  the  United  States  Senate 
suggesting  the  latter  course,  and  it  was  only  kept  from  pas- 
sage by  assurances  that  the  administration  was  using  every 
effort' to  reach  an  agreement  with  France  and  Spain. 

In  order  to  give  due  emphasis  to  the  activities  that  were 
being  put  forth  to  accomplish  this  result,  Jefferson  named 
James  Monroe,  of  Virginia,  Envoy  Extraordinary  to 
France  and  Spain,  charging  him  to  hasten  negotiations  for 
the  purchase  of  New  Orleans  and  the  Spanish  territory 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

In  all  the  correspondence  that  passed  between  our  Gov- 
ernment and  Livingston  and  Monroe  during  these  long 
negotiations,  there  was  scant  mention  of  the  territory 
west  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  New  Orleans,  for  no 
one  was  interested  in  it.  In  one  letter  it  was  suggested 

202 


THE   LOUISIANA   PURCHASE 

that  if  we  had  to  purchase  it,  we  might  be  able  to  sell  it  for 
enough  to  recover  the  price  paid  for  the  whole.  Napoleon 
was  a  visionary  person  at  thirty,  and  had  many  schemes 
for  the  use  of  Louisiana. 

At  one  time  he  was  going  to  found  a  vast  colonial  em- 
pire, and  an  expedition  was  being  fitted  out  for  that  end. 
Livingston  wrote  Madison  in  March,  1802,  "It  is  a  darling 
object  of  Napoleon,  who  sees  in  it  a  means  to  gratify  his 
friends  and  dispose  of  his  armies. ' ' 

But  just  then  his  eternal  quarrel  with  England  renewed  it- 
self, and  it  was  currently  reported  that  the  British  Govern- 
ment was  planning  an  expedition  to  occupy  New  Orleans. 
This  quickly  determined  him  to  employ  his  colonial  ex- 
pedition in  his  war  with  England  and  to  hurriedly  sell 
Louisiana  to  the  United  States,  to  keep  it  from  falling  into 
English  hands. 

Forty  years  before,  when  France  and  England  were  near- 
ing  the  end  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  and  it  was  evi- 
dent that  England  would  triumph,  and  after  Canada  had 
been  taken  from  the  French,  Louisiana  had  been  hurriedly 
ceded  by  France  to  Spain  to  keep  it  out  of  English  hands, 
and  now  for  the  last  time  it  was  bartered  about  in  the  politi- 
cal game  of  European  nations. 

And  the  country  that  had  been  claimed  and  named  by 
La  Salle  in  his  verbal  proclamation  made  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  before,  and 
that  had  been  bartered  back  to  France  for  an  Italian  king- 
dom, became  a  part  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


203 


TEXAS  TRADED  FOR  FLORIDA 

IV. 
TEXAS  TRADED  FOR  FLORIDA. 

During  the  centuries  since  the  English,  Spanish  and 
French  explorers  had  first  come  into  North  America  and 
laid  the  claims  of  these  nations  to  the  continent,  there  had 
been  no  settlement  of  the  western  boundaries,  and  no  one 
could  say  with  any  approximate  accuracy  what  was  in- 
cluded when  France  ceded  Louisiana  to  Spain  in  1763,  or 
when  Spain  receded  it  to  France  in  1800,  or  when  it  was  sold 
to  the  United  States  in  1803.  Livingston  asked  the  French 
diplomats  if  the  Spanish  cession  to,  France  at  San  Ildef  onso 
had  included  the  Floridas,  and  they  told  him  they  supposed 
so.  Pinckney,  our  Minister  to  Spain,  made  the  same  in- 
quiry at  Madrid,  and  was  told  they  supposed  not.  No  one 
seemed  to  know  or  care  very  much. 

Livingston  wrote  in  1802,  while  negotiations  for  purchase 
were  pending:  "As  part  of  the  territory  of  Spain,  Louisi- 
ana had  no  precise  boundary,  so  it  is  easy  to  foresee  the 
fate  of  Mexico.  The  boundary  between  Canada  and  Louisi- 
ana is  alike  unsettled." 

While  there  was  much  concern  as  to  how  far  east 
Louisiana  could  be  extended,  no  one  connected  with 
our  Government  in  these  negotiations  seemed  to 
care  a  rap  how  far  north  and  west  it  went.  Livingston 
wrote  President  Jefferson  in  October,  1802 :  ' '  Joseph  Bona- 
parte asked  me  whether  we  would  prefer  the  Floridas  to 
Louisiana,  and  I  told  him  we  had  no  wish  to  extend  our 
boundary  across  the  Mississippi;"  and  again  in  1803,  he 
wrote :  '  *  Talleyrand  asked  me  today  if  we  wanted  the  whole 
of  Louisiana,  and  I  told  him  no,  only  New  Orleans  and  the 
Floridas." 

In  fact  Jefferson  and  Madison  wanted  nothing  but  the 

204 


TEXAS  TRADED  FOR  FLORIDA 

mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  west  Florida,  through 
which  the  rivers  from  our  then  western  and  southern  States 
flowed  to  the  Gulf. 

At  one  time  it  was  suggested  by  Livingston  that  the 
Island  and  City  of  New  Orleans  be  made  an  independent 
state  under  the  joint  sovereignty  of  France,  Spain  and  the 
United  States,  in  which  event  this  country  would  not  be 
further  interested  in  the  purchase  of  Louisiana. 

When  Monroe  reached  Paris  in  1803,  Napoleon  had  in- 
dicated to  Livingston  his  willingness  to  sell,  and  insisted 
on  selling  the  whole  territory,  so  it  happened  that  our  Min- 
isters had  it  fairly  forced  upon  them. 

After  the  bargain  was  closed,  Livingston  was  much 
worried  for  fear  the  Washington  Government  would  cen- 
sure him  for  having  agreed  to  take  the  country  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River. 

On  May  13,  1803,  a  few  days  after  the  treaty  was  signed, 
Livingston  and  Monroe  wrote  Madison  an  apology  for  hav- 
ing accepted  the  whole  territory.  "We  well  know  (they 
wrote)  that  the  acquisition  of  so  great  an  extent  was  not 
contemplated. ' ' 

But  they  pointed  out  that  they  were  unable  to  escape  tak- 
ing it  all  without  endangering  the  whole  negotiations,  that 
Marbois,  the  French  Minister,  was  obdurate.  And  when  after 
concluding  the  bargain,  they  came  to  examine  Monroe's 
commission,  they  found  it  restricted  him  to  the  purchase  of 
territory  east  of  the  River,  and  this  gave  them  a  new  fright. 
But  Jefferson  and  Madison  were  indulgent  and  did  not 
complain  at  them  for  having  been  bullied  into  accepting 
nearly  one  million  square  miles  more  than  they  were  in- 
structed to  buy  at  the  same  price.  Jefferson  wrote  a  friend 
that  he  might  use  this  western  country  for  the  Indians  and 
move  those  east  of  the  Mississippi  upon  it.  But  what  were 


205 


TEXAS  TRADED  FOR  FLORIDA 

its  boundaries  ?  The  American  ministers  were  unable  to  get 
any  definite  statement  from  France  about  boundaries.  They 
would  be  told  that  France  got  from  Spain  in  1800  the  same 
territory  that  it  ceded  Spain  in  1763.  Livingston,  in  his 
diary  of  events  surrounding  the  purchase,  says : 

"I  asked  the  minister  what  were  the  east  bounds  of  the 
territory  ceded  to  us."  "He  said  he  did  not  know,  we 
must  take  it  as  they  had  received  it. "  "I  asked  him  what 
Spain  meant  to  put  them  in  possession  of  and  what  they 
had  meant  to  take  from  Spain."  He  said,  "I  do  not  know, 
construe  it  in  your  own  way.  You  have  made  a  noble  bar- 
gain, make  the  most  of  it." 

The  American  Government  felt  that  the  purchase  ex- 
tended to  the  Rio  Grande  on  the  southwest,  and  included 
West  Florida  on  the  east,  but  was  so  much  more  interested 
in  Florida  than  in  Texas  that  little  thought  was  given  the 
latter.  The  Spanish  Government  was  much  disappointed  at 
learning  of  the  sale  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States,  and 
the  Marquis  d'Yrujo,  Spain's  Minister  to  the  United  States, 
addressed  a  series  of  notes  to  Secretary  Madison  declaring 
that  France  had  no  right  to  sell  the  territory.  Madison 
mildly  but  firmly  told  the  Marquis  to  tell  his  troubles  to 
Napoleon,  and  the  incident  was  closed.  Spain  did  not  rel- 
ish the  United  States  as  a  next  door  neighbor,  and  set  about 
to  hold  Texas  as  part  of  its  Mexican  possessions. 

In  order  to  keep  Americans  out,  it  was  planned  to  have 
a  vast  area  between  the  two  countries  filled  with  Indians, 
who  would  be  friendly  with  Mexico  but  hostile  to  the  Amer- 
ican settler. 

The  Jefferson  administration  was  contented  with  the  ac- 
quisition of  Louisiana.  The  days  of  Madison,  who  succeed- 
ed, were  largely  filled  with  other  matters,  including  the  war 
of  1812. 


206 


TEXAS  TRADED  FOR  FLORIDA 

When  Monroe  became  President,  he  bent  his  energies  to 
the  acquisition  of  the  Floridas  with  the  hope  of  getting 
Spain  forever  out  of  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi. 
When  the  De  Onis  treaty  was  before  the  Senate,  Henry 
Clay  stated  that  by  right  the  Louisiana  purchase  included 
Texas  to  the  Rio  Grande,  but  neither  he  nor  anyone  else  se- 
riously objected  to  giving  up  Texas  for  Florida. 

The  De  Onis  treaty  of  1819  gave  the  United  States  Flor- 
ida and  released  Spain's  claims  to  all  land  north  of  the 
42nd  parallel,  the  northern  boundary  of  California. 

In  return  the  United  States  gave  up  its  claim  that  Texas 
was  part  of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  and  for  the  time  be- 
ing all  claim  to  the  country  west  of  the  Sabine  and  South 
of  Red  River  was  relinquished.  And  so  it  came  to  pass 
that  Texas,  which  was  in  fact  a  part  of  the  Louisiana  pur- 
chase on  account  of  LaSalle's  explorations,  was  relin- 
quished in  1819,  to  be  reclaimed  by  American  frontiersmen 
in  1821-1836  and  re-annexed  to  the  American  Union  in 
1836-1846. 

The  story  of  that  annexation  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
in  our  political  annals.  By  almost  unanimous  vote,  the 
people  of  Texas  offered  to  enter  the  American  Union  at  the 
first  election  held  in  1836.  This  offer  was  rejected  by  Con- 
gress in  1837,  under  the  great  pressure  brought  by  the  abo- 
litionists. So  overwhelming  was  this  defeat  that  all  hope 
of  annexation  seems  to  have  died  out  for  the  next  five  years. 
In  1843,  President  Tyler  started  a  crusade  for  that  result, 
which  he  pushed  with  great  vigor  until  the  close  of  his 
term  in  1845,  when  he  succeeded  in  getting  favorable  legis- 
lation through  Congress  only  a  few  days  before  he  sur- 
rendered office  to  Polk.  The  annexation  of  Texas  was  the 
largest  question  before  the  American  people  from  1843  to 


207 


FIRST  EFFORTS  AT  RE- ANNEXATION 

1846,  and  was  the  paramount  issue  in  the  Presidential  cam- 
paign of  1844. 

It  kept  Henry  Clay  out  of  the  presidency  and  was  the 
rock  which  wrecked  the  Whig  party.  It  defeated  the  nom- 
ination of  Van  Buren  at  Baltimore  in  1844,  and  brought 
about  that  of  James  K.  Polk,  the  first  "dark  horse"  ever 
named  for  the  presidency. 

It  resulted  in  the  keenest  diplomatic  game  ever  played 
on  this  continent,  in  which  the  frontier  folks  won  over  the 
representatives  of  England  and  France.  It  stopped  the 
aggressions  of  England  in  North  America,  and  played  a 
powerful  part  in  the  acquisition  of  Oregon,  and  last,  but 
not  least,  it  resulted  in  a  war  with  Mexico  which  carried 
our  flag  to  the  Pacific.  This  generation  can  well  review  in 
some  detail  this  great  stirring  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
World. 


V. 
FIRST  EFFORTS  AT  RE-ANNEXATION. 

Jefferson  had  purchased  Louisiana,  and  Monroe  had  ac- 
quired the  Floridas,  and  so  when  John  Quincy  Adams  be- 
came President  in  1824,  he  was  anxious  to  do  his  bit  in  ex- 
tending our  boundaries.  He  was  aided  in  this  ambition  by 
no  less  person  than  Henry  Clay,  who  was  his  Secretary  of 
State. 

The  first  American  Minister  to  Mexico  after  that  country 
became  free  from  Spain,  went  with  instructions  to  open  ne- 
gotiations for  the  purchase  of  Texas  down  to  the  Rio 
Grande.  Secretary  Clay  gave  him  a  schedule  of  prices  to 

208 


FIRST  EFFORTS  AT  RE- ANNEXATION 

offer  for  the  country  to  the  Rio  Grande,  or  to  the  Nueces, 
or  to  the  Colorado,  or  even  the  Brazos,  and  furnished  him 
with  arguments  to  advance  why  Mexico  should  sell. 

One  of  these  was  that  the  Comanche  Indians  who  infest- 
ed the  country  could  be  sold  with  it,  and  the  responsibility 
of  diplomatic  relations  with  these  war-like  folks  would  pass 
to  the  purchaser,  that  the  United  States  would  take  the 
land  with  the  incumbrance,  so  to  speak. 

Though  these  advancements  met  with  no  favor  in  Mexico, 
Clay  and  Adams  continued  them  during  their  entire  admin- 
istration. When  General  Jackson  became  President,  suc- 
ceeding Adams,  Ke  was  even  more  zealous  for  the  repurchase 
of  the  land  which  Monroe  had  given  up  for  Florida,  and  for 
eight  long  years,  even  up  to  San  Jacinto,  the  American 
Minister  in  Mexico  kept  up  the  scheme  of  buying  Texas. 
The  President  was  ably  aided  by  his  skillful  Secretary  of 
State,  Martin  Van  Buren. 

During  those  years,  1825-1837,  it  seemed  conceded  in 
the  States  that  the  acquisition  of  Texas  was  devoutly  de- 
sired by  all.  The  Texas  colonists  fresh  from  the  States 
came  imbued  with  this  idea,  and  when  separation  from 
Mexico  was  in  prospect  in  1835  and  '36,  the  people  of 
Texas  naturally  expected  to  be  incorporated  in  the  Ameri- 
can Union  without  delay. 

When  the  Colonial  Convention  met  at  Washington  on 
the  Brazos  in  March,  1836,  and  a  government  was  organized 
and  a  constitution  written,  a  resolution  was  passed  providing 
for  the  submission  to  the  people  of  the  question  of  annexa- 
tion to  the  United  States,  at  the  same  time  the  constitution 
was  submitted  for  ratification.  This  was  done  at  the  Sep- 
tember election  held  in  1836,  when  Houston  was  elected 
President  and  the  constitution  ratified.  Only  eighty-nine 
votes  were  cast  against  annexation. 

209 


FIRST  EFFORTS  AT  RE-ANNEXATION 

But  the  San  Jacinto  campaign  and  the  capture  of  Santa 
Anna  had  turned  the  eyes  of  all  the  world  on  Texas.  Mex- 
ico bitterly  complained  to  Europe  that  the  United  States 
had  backed  and  fomented  the  Revolution  to  get  Texas. 
Companies  of  soldiers  had  been  openly  equipped  and  had 
marched  with  flag  and  drum  out  of  many  American  cities 
to  aid  Texas  in  its  war  for  freedom,  and  the  Revolution  was 
furnished  and  financed  in  the  United  States.  These  things 
were  pointed  to  by  suspicious  persons  in  Europe  as  well  as 
Mexico  as  an  evidence  that  the  Washington  Government  was 
an  instigator  of  the  Revolution.  This  lead  the  Government 
to  issue  a  neutrality  warning,  the  effect  of  which  may  be 
fairly  seen  in  the  case  of  Captain  Grundy,  United  States 
District  Attorney,  who  was  raising  a  company  in  Nashville 
for  service  in  Texas.  He  issued  a  terrible  warning :  ' '  I  have 
orders  to  arrest  and  prosecute  every  man  who  may  take  up 
arms  in  the  cause  of  Texas  or  in  any  way  violate  United 
States  neutrality, ' '  said  he.  "I  will  prosecute  any  man  in 
my  command  who  takes  up  arms  in  Tennessee  against  Mex- 
ico, and  I  will  lead  you  to  the  border  to  see  that  our  neu- 
trality is  not  violated  as  long  as  we  are  on  our  soil." 

The  people  of  Texas  were  therefore  little  prepared  at 
the  reception  they  got  in  the  United  States  in  1836  and 
during  the  Van  Buren  administration  which  followed  Jack- 
son. 

At  first  the  atrocities  of  the  Alamo  and  Goliad  had 
aroused  the  American  people  to  a  frenzy,  and  the  quick 
success  at  San  Jacinto  to  an  enthusiasm,  both  of  high  de- 
gree. Benton  of  Missouri  declared  in  the  United  States 
Senate  that  Houston  was  the  first  general  since  Marc  Antony 
who  had  captured  the  head  of  a  government  and  chief  of  ac 
army  in  a  single  stroke. 


210 


FIRST  EFFORTS  AT  RE- ANNEXATION 

Henry  Clay,  late  Secretary  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  and 
now  a  Senator,  made  felicitous  remarks,  and  offered  a  reso- 
lution in  the  United  States  Senate  hinting  at  the  recogni- 
tion of  Texas  Independence. 

But  the  "tumult  and  the  shouting"  soon  died,  and  at 
home  and  abroad  forces  antagonistic  to  Texas  and  the  Tex- 
ans  were  loosed,  so  that  instead  of  immediate  annexation,  as 
all  Texas  hoped,  even  recognition  was  only  gained  after  a 
long,  bitter  fight  of  a  year,  and  annexation,  deserted  by  its 
former  friends  and  fought  by  the  fanatic  forces  of  aboli- 
tion, was  delayed  for  ten  long  years. 

Even  President  Jackson,  who  during  eight  years  had 
continued  to  dicker  for  the  purchase  of  Texas,  and  who 
spent  his  closing  years  working  for  annexation,  turned 
conservative  when  the  Texas  agents  arrived  in  1836  and  be- 
gan their  overtures  for  recognition  and  hints  at  annexation. 
He  reminded  them  that  the  United  States  had  treaty  obli- 
gations with  Mexico  which  must  be  observed,  and  expressed 
regret  that  the  people  of  Texas  had  voted  for  annexation 
before  its  independence  had  even  been  recognized.  When 
strong,  stern  men  like  Jackson  wavered,  what  could  be  ex- 
pected of  the  average  American  politician  of  the  Van  Buren 
type? 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  American  Congress  would 
have  voted  recognition  when  it  did  in  February,  1837,  had 
not  the  Mexican  Minister  to  the  United  States  acted  the  fool. 
He  bullied  and  talked  too  much,  and  finally  asked  for  his 
passports  and  went  home.  Jackson  thought  it  was  enough 
for  him  to  bring  about  recognition,  and  suggested  that  an- 
nexation, which  he  devoutly  wished,  be  left  to  a  northern 
President. 

He  went  out  of  the  office  in  March,  1837,  and  retired  to 
his  home  in  Tennessee.  But  he  devoted  the  closing  years 

211 


TEXAS  REJECTED  IN  1837 

of  his  life  to  the  consummation  of  annexation,  and  it  may  be 
truly  said  that  Ex-President  Jackson  and  President  Tyler 
were  the  greatest  individual  forces  in  the  United  States 
in  bringing  this  result. 


VI. 
TEXAS  REJECTED  IN  1837. 

Martin  Van  Buren,  of  New  York,  became  President  of 
the  United  States  in  March,  1837,  and  the  Congress  which 
assembled  in  that  year  wrestled  mightily  with  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas.  The  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  set  it- 
self to  the  task  of  preventing  it  at  any  cost.  Petitions  and 
memorials  circulated  and  signed  by  abolitionists  poured 
upon  Congress  in  such  numbers  that  a  member  said  they 
could  only  be  measured  by  the  cubic  foot.  It  was  said  that 
in  this  single  session  six  hundred  thousand  signatures  were 
presented  against  annexation.  Channing,  the  Boston  clergy- 
man, circularized  the  country  in  wild  outbursts  against  ex- 
tending our  sovereignty  to  the  Southwest. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  who  as  Secretary  of  State  to  Monroe, 
declared  the  greatest  event  of  his  life  was  the  signature  of 
the  De  Onis  treaty,  by  which  we  acquired  Florida,  and  who 
as  President  schemed  for  four  years  to  acquire  Texas,  was 
now  (in  1837)  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  wrote  in  his  diary:  "The  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
Union  is  the  first  step  to  the  conquest  of  all  Mexico,  of 
the  West  Indies,  of  a  maritime,  colonizing,  slave-tainted 
monarchy,  and  of  extinguishment  of  freedom."  And  the 
old  man  did  not  confine  his  activities  to  mere  entries  in  his 
diary.  When  the  resolution  for  annexation  came  before  the 
House  in  that  year,  near  the  close  of  the  session,  the  vener- 


212 


TEXAS  REJECTED  IN  1837 

able  Ex-President  made  a  three  weeks'  address  in  opposi- 
tion to  it,  which  closed  the  session  and  defeated  the  meas- 
ures. A  similar  resolution  introduced  by  Senator  Preston, 
of  South  Carolina,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  was  de- 
feated by  a  vote. of  twenty-four  to  fourteen.  This  seemed 
the  death  knell  of  annexation,  and  its  enemies  accepted  it 
as  final.  In  Texas  all  hope  was  abandoned  and  our  peo- 
ple prepared  themselves  for  an  independent  career.  The 
question  seems  to  have  died  out  so  completely  for  the  next 
five  years  that  neither  in  Congress  nor  in  the  American 
papers  was  there  any  serious  mention  of  it.  In  1842  there 
was  a  spasmodic  revival  when  it  was  known  that  Senator 
Walker,  of  Mississippi,  was  about  to  offer  a  bill  for  the  pro- 
ject. But  he  got  so  little  encouragement  that  he  did  not  do 
so.  The  benevolent  liberator,  William  Loyd  Garrison,  de- 
clared at  this  time:  "It  is  impossible  for  any  honest  man 
to  wish  success  to  Texas.  All  who  sympathize  with  that 
pseudo-Republic  hate  liberty,  and  would  dethrone  God." 

During  these  years,  1836  to  1842,  Texas  went  through  a 
dark  and  gloomy  period,  weak  at  home  and  derided  abroad. 
The  sympathy  stirred  by  the  struggle  of  1836  was  forgot- 
ten. Mexican  influence  in  Europe  was  exerted  to  the  utter- 
most against  us.  In  the  States  we  had  left  only  a  few 
friends  in  the  South.  The  Van  Buren  administration  inher- 
ited the  financial  follies  of  Jackson's  regime,  which  follies 
did  not  reach  high  tide  until  the  panic  of  1837. 

Fortunes  were  swept  away  and  the  wild  speculation  of 
the  day  of  inflated  currency  left  many  a  Southern  planter 
and  slave-holder  bankrupt.  In  those  days  of  monetary 
disaster,  Texas  became  an  asylum  for  many  a  fugitive 
debtor. 

I  was  trying  a  law  suit  at  Richmond,  Texas,  twenty-odd 
years  ago,  and  a  very  old  negro  was  a  witness.  They  were 

213 


TEXAS  REJECTED  IN  1837 

proving  by  him  some  dates  long  before  the  Civil  War,  and 
he  gave  the  year  and  month  that  his  old  master  had  brought 
him  to  Texas,  when  he  was  a  small  boy.  I  asked  Uncle 
Remus  how  he  remembered  these  things  of  so  long  ago,  and 
the  grey,  garrulous  relic  of  another  day  assured  me:  "We 
left  Virginia  in  the  night,  suh,  Marse  Thomas  and  all  his 
niggers,  and  we  travelled  mostly  in  the  night  until  we 
crossed  the  Mississippi  River."  So  general  had  this  ex- 
odus of  fugitive  debtors  became,  that  throughout  the  South- 
ern States  sheriffs  would  return  writs  of  attachment  and 
execution,  with  the  simple  notation,  "G.  T.,"  which  meant 
"gone  to  Texas."  Back  in  the  States,  Texas  was  regarded 
chiefly  as  a  refuge  for  runaway  debtors.  During  these 
troubled  years  Mexico,  always  torn  by  its  own  Revolutions, 
was  never  able  to  fit  out  an  expedition  to  re-conquer  Texas, 
but  would  continually  send  marauding  forces  across  the 
river  to  plunder  and  harass  our  people,  and  twice  these  in- 
vasions came  as  far  as  San  Antonio,  which  was  captured  and 
plundered.  The  Texans  made  several  attempts  to  retaliate 
by  invading  northern  Mexico,  and  when  they  did  so  the 
abolitionist  press  of  the  North  would  scream  out:  "That 
we  were  a  nation  of  freebooters  and  pirates,  molesting  a 
peaceful  neighbor  nation." 

Massachusetts  was  the  ex-officio  arch  enemy  of  Texas 
and  the  Texans,  and  from  it  radiated  such  sentiment  as 
found  in  Garrison's  utterance  above  quoted,  "that  one  who 
would  befriend  Texas,  would  dethrone  God."  John  Quin- 
cy  Adams,  of  Boston,  spent  his  last  days  going  up  and  down 
New  England  in  a  scream  of  wild  frenzy.  He  spoke  softly 
and  kindly  of  Mexico,  the  Mother  Country,  robbed  of  its 
provinces  by  filibustering  Texans,"  and  closed  his  appeals 
with  the  declaration:  "No  act  of  Congress  or  treaty  of 
annexation  can  impose  the  least  obligation  upon  the  several 

214 


TEXAS  REJECTED  IN  1837 

States  of  the  Union  to  submit  to  such  an  unwarrantable  act, 
or  to  receive  into  their  family  such  misbegotten  and  illegiti- 
mate progeny.  The  admission  of  Texas  would  be  identical 
with  the  dissolution  of  the  Union. ' ' 

A  Boston  daily  paper  about  the  same  time  wrote:  ''We 
have  territory  enough,  bad  morals  enough,  public  debt 
enough,  slavery  enough  without  adding  Texas."  Texas, 
under  the  pressure  of  such  propaganda,  sunk  low  in  the 
world's  esteem.  Doctor  Stephen  H.  Everett  of  Jasper 
County,  one  time  a  Senator  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  made 
a  trip  through  the  States  in  1842,  and  upon  his  return  re- 
ported :  ' '  Texas  in  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States  stands 
as  low  in  the  grade  of  nations  as  it  is  possible  for  a  nation 
to  stand  and  exist. ' ' 

Van  Buren  was  defeated  for  re-election  in  1840  by  the 
Whig  candidate  Harrison,  but  the  Texas  question  was 
considered  so  dead  after  1837  that  it  was  not  an  issue  in 
the  1840  campaign.  Sam  Houston  entered  upon  his  second 
term  as  President  of  Texas  in  1842,  and  he  found  the  for- 
tunes of  Texas  at  a  low  ebb.  Despairing  of  help  from  the 
United  States,  he  turned  his  attention  to  a  European  alli- 
ance, and  with  a  skill  rarely  equalled  in  diplomatic  history, 
he  played  a  game  with  England  which  was  the  chief  factor 
in  reversing  the  policy  of  the  States.  Oddly  enough  France 
had  thrown  Louisiana,  which  included  Texas,  to  Spain  in 
1762  to  keep  it  out  of  England's  hands,  and  Napoleon 
passed  it  to  the  United  States  in  1803  to  keep  it  from  Eng- 
land, and  now  forty  years  later,  after  many  changes  of  sov- 
ereignty and  fortune,  the  fear  of  English  domination  drove 
the  United  States  to  take  Texas  and  wage  a  war  with  Mex- 
ico. Indeed  it  seems  that  old  England  has  played  a  power- 
ful part  in  our  destiny. 


215 


PRESIDENT  TYLER  DISCOVERS  TEXAS 

VII. 
PRESIDENT  TYLER  DISCOVERS  TEXAS. 

In  1842,  John  Tyler  of  Virginia  was  President  of  the 
United  States.  A  Democrat  out  of  harmony  with  his  party, 
he  had  been  elected  Vice-President  by  the  Whigs,  and 
when  William  Henry  Harrison  died  after  a  few  weeks'  in- 
cumbency this  Virginia  Democratic  Whig  ruled  in  his 
stead.  The  Democrats  despised  him  as  an  apostate,  the 
Whigs  as  an  interloper,  but  he  was  a  man  of  long  political 
experience  and  no  little  political  acumen,  and  he  set  his 
heart  on  the  annexation  of  Texas. 

Nothing  short  of  the  power  and  prestige  of  the  presiden- 
cy would  have  sufficed  to  enable  an  advocate  of  Texas,  an- 
nexation to  make  any  headway  in  the  United  States  in  1842 
to  1844,  in  the  face  of  the  terrible  defeat  in  1837,  and  the 
apparently  overwhelming  sentiment  against  it  at  this  time. 
A  President,  backed  by  the  party  that  elected  him,  would 
never  have  dared  ~to  hazard  his  party's  success  by  es- 
pousing this  dead,  dangerous  issue. 

But  Tyler  had  no  political  expediency  to  impede  him. 
Hated  alike  by  Democratic  and  Whig  leaders,  he  knew  his 
political  fortunes  lay  along  lines  hostile  to  them  both.  It 
was  generally  conceded  as  early  as  1842  that  Henry  Clay 
would  be  the  Whig  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1844, 
and  that  Ex-President  Van  Buren  would  be  the  Democratic 
candidate.  It  was  also  known  that  the  leaders  of  both  par- 
ties devoutly  hoped  that  the  Texas  question  would  remain 
dormant  in  1844,  just  as  it  had  in  1840  in  the  contest  be- 
tween Van  Buren  and  Harrison.  There  were  strong  South- 
ern leaders  like  Calhoun,  Walker,  of  Mississippi,  and  others, 
who  were  always  open  champions  of  annexation,  but  no 


216 


PRESIDENT  TYLER  DISCOVERS  TEXAS 

one  in  power  with  either  party,  no  party  leader,  was  willing 
to  stand  out  for  it,  nor  were  they  anxious  to  have  to  stand 
out  against  it.  They  simply  hoped  it  would  not  be  inject- 
ed into  the  coming  campaign,  which  was  already  well  on  in 
1842. 

But  John  Tyler  was  a  nervous,  energetic,  active  person, 
and  he  loaned  all  his  energies  and  staked  his  political  for- 
tunes on  a  campaign  to  "re-annex"  Texas. 

Every  member  of  his  cabinet  except  Daniel  Webster,  who 
was  Secretary  of  State,  resigned  when  he  vetoed  the  Whig 
Bank  Bill  in  1841.  But  when  Webster  later  learned  that 
Tyler  was  bent  on  annexing  Texas,  he  too  resigned,  and 
this  gave  the  President  an  opportunity  to  name  a  Secre- 
tary more  suited  to  his  purposes,  whom  he  readily  found  in 
Judge  Abel  P.  Upshur,  of  Virginia,  who  was  indeed  de- 
voted to  this  cause  until  his  tragic  death  two  years  later. 

After  the  rejection  of  Texas  in  1837,  all  discussion  of  the 
subject  had  been  dropped,  and  it  was  now  necessary  for  the 
Tyler  administration  to  re-open  the  question  in  some  way. 
When  Houston  was  inaugurated  President  in  1842,  he  ex- 
tolled England  as  the  ally  and  friend  of  Texas  and  warned 
his  people  to  expect  neither  help  nor  sympathy  from  the 
States. 

Secretary  Upshur  sent  word  to  Houston  in  a  guarded 
way  that  the  Tyler  administration  would  like  to  open  ne- 
gotiations for  a  treaty  of  annexation.  But  the  old  Cherokee 
Chief  feigned  not  to  see  or  hear  these  overtures,  and  con- 
tinued his  open  parleys  with  England,  which  were  meeting 
with  a  warm  and  equally  open  response  from  the  British 
statesmen  who  desired  to  control  the  destiny  if  not  acquire 
the  territory  of  Texas.  Houston  sent  Doctor  Ashabel  Smith, 
of  Goose  Creek,  as  Minister  to  England  and  France.  Smith, 
next  to  Houston,  was  the  greatest  mind  of  the  Republic  of 

217 


PRESIDENT  TYLER  DISCOVERS  TEXAS 

Texas.  England  had  a  powerful  influence  with  Mexico,  and 
tendered  its  good  offices  to  fix  a  truce  between  that  country 
and  Texas,  and  the  hint  was  had  that  if  Texas  would  stay 
clear  of  the  States,  Mexico  might  be  induced  to  acknowledge 
Texas  Independence,  and  thus  put  a  stop  to  the  eternal 
guerilla  border  warfare  which  had  prevailed  since  1836. 
Even  Mexico,  anxious  to  forestall  annexation  by  the  States, 
lent  color  to  this  hope  and  an  armistice  for  a  time  prevailed. 
Houston  foresaw  that  if  he  appeared  favorable  to  the  new 
proposals  of  annexation,  he  would  at  once  alienate  English 
aid,  and  if  Tyler  should  fail  to  carry  the  scheme  through, 
Texas  would  be  left  feeble  at  home  and  friendless  abroad. 
And  though  he  desired  annexation  to  his  native  land  more 
devoutly  than  any  other  ambition  in  his"  long  career,  he 
frowned  so  coldly  on  Upshur's  advances  that  the  adminis- 
tration appealed  to  Jackson,  then  in  retirement,  to  use  his 
influence  with  Houston  in  favor  of  a  treaty  of  annexation. 
Houston  finally  consented  to  open  negotiations,  provided 
assurances  of  aid  against  Mexico  were  given  by  the  Tyler 
administration  in  the  event  the  treaty  should  fail  of  ratifi- 
cation by  the  United  States  Senate. 

Houston's  caution  was  to  a  degree  frustrated  by  the 
anxiety  of  his  constituents,  who,  hearing  of  the  overtures 
from  the  Washington  Government,  and  noting  his  osten- 
sible indifference,  demanded  steps  to  facilitate  the  project 
so  dear  to  the  heart  of  all  Texas.  And  though  he  managed 
to  keep  the  situation  well  in  hand,  yet  the  Texas  Congress 
in  December,  1843,  voted  to  authorize  a  treaty  of  annexa- 
tion, and  it  was  in  fact  concluded  between  diplomatic  agents 
of  Texas  and  the  Washington  Government  early  in  1844. 
So  closely  had  these  proceedings  been  guarded  in  the  Unit- 
ed States  that  the  treaty  was  signed  before  any  wide- 
spread information  regarding  it  had  escaped  there.  Ru- 

218 


TYLER  AND  TEXAS 

mors  had  now  and  then  been  rife,  and  some  American 
daily  papers  had  published  warnings,  but  no  one  took  seri- 
ous notice  of  a  project  which  was  generally  regarded  as 
gone  beyond  recall. 

But  Tyler's  treaty  must  yet  go  before  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  and  like  another  President  who  followed 
him  with  another  treaty  even  in  our  own  day,  he  must 
deal  with  the  American  Senate. 


VIII. 
TYLER  AND  TEXAS. 

The  news  of  Tyler's  treaty  was  soon  out,  and  provoked 
a  wild  protest  in  the  North  and  East.  The  storm  center 
of  this  opposition  was  in  and  about  Boston,  one  of  whose 
daily  papers  railed  at  it  as  "The  contemptible  scheme  of  a 
poor,  miserable  traitor,  temporarily  acting  as  President  of 
the  United  States,  a  scheme  which  would  end  in  ruin, 
bloodshed  and  disunion.  We  will  resist  it  *  *  *  with 
the  last  drop  of  our  blood. ' ' 

Petitions  were  written,  mass  meetings  held,  and  all 
through  the  Northeast  the  spirit  which  had  defeated  it  in 
1837  was  aroused  for  its  doom  in  1844.  Even  the  gentle 
Quaker  poet  Whittier,  the  author  of  "Barefoot  Boy"  and 
"Maud  Muller,"  whose  harmless  rhymes  we  learned  in 
childhood,  took  up  his  pen  against  us  and  wrote: 


"Like  a  lion  growling  low, 
Like  a  night  storm  rising  slow, 
Like  the  tread  of  unseen  foe; 


219 


TYLER  AND  TEXAS 

It  is  coming,  it  is  nigh, 

Stand  your  homes  and  altars  by, 

On  your  own  free  threshold  die ; 

Freedom's  soil  hath  only  place 
For  a  free  and  fearless  race, 
None  for  traitors  false  and  base ' ' ; 

and  many  more  stilted  stanzas  advertising  our  wickedness. 

And  the  venerable  John  Quincy  Adams  rushed  to  his 
voluminous  diary  and  wrote:  "The  treaty  of  annexation 
was  this  day  sent  to  the  Senate,  and  with  it  went  the  free- 
dom of  the  human  race." 

But  these  screams  from  New  England  were  met' by  some 
very  plain  talk  from  down  South.  "We  had  rather  have 
Texas  than  New  England,"  thundered  a  Tennessee  Con- 
gressman, and  all  through  the  South  there  was  open  talk 
of  withdrawing  from  the  North,  annexing  Texas  and  ex- 
tending our  territory  to  the  Pacific.  But  the  fear  of  Eng- 
land had  been  to  a  degree  put  in  the  hearts  of  many  people 
in  the  North.  It  was  told  that  the  British  planned  to  do 
the  carrying  for  Texas  exports,  and  was  to  have  an  entry 
there  for  all  manufactured  goods  duty  free;  that  the  plan 
was  to  exclude  all  American  manufactured  articles  from 
the  Texas  market.  And  while  Garrison  thundered  "That 
those  who  would  befriend  Texas  would  dethrone  God/'  and 
John  Quincy  Adams  saw  the  doom  of  the  human  race  in 
fhe  Texas  treaty,  these  things,  though  terrible,  were  more 
or  less  intangible  like  the  minister's  day  of  judgment  and 
eternal  punishment,  while  the  loss  of  a  commercial  advan- 
tage or  an  open  market  was  a  present  real  distress.  The 
prospective  wrath  of  God  was  not  quite  so  terrible  to  a 
Yankee  in  those  days  as  the  immediate  loss  of  a  customer. 


220 


TYLER  AND  TEXAS 

One  petition  sent  to  a  Congressman  from  Western  New 
York  declared  in  its  preamble  against  the  base  iniquity  of 
annexing  Texas,  but  was  accompanied  by  a  postscript 
which  advised  that  if  their  representative  really  believed 
England  was  about  to  take  Texas,  he  was  authorized  to 
waive  the  iniquity  and  annex  it. 

At  the  beginning  of  1844,  the  stage  was  set  in  the  United 
States  for  the  presidential  campaign,  and  the  country  was 
thought  to  be  closely  divided  between  Democrats  and  Whigs. 
Four  years  before  the  Whigs  had  won,  and  this  year  they 
planned  as  they  had  often  planned  before  and  afterwards 
to  renominate  and  elect  Henry  Clay,  and  "Lord  Harry" 
was  compelled  to  say  something  about  Texas.  Being  a  South- 
ern man  and  having  been  one  of  the  first  to  speak  out  for 
Texas  in  1836,  he  was  counted  on  by  the  administration  to 
support  the  treaty.  But  he  was  destined  to  be  neither  right 
nor  President  in  1844,  and  he  spoke  out  against  it,  and  the 
Whig  party  turned  its  back  on  Texas.  Van  Buren  had  the 
pledges  of  twenty-one  States,  mostly  Southern,  for  the  Dem- 
ocratic nomination,  and  he  planned  to  keep  very  silent  on 
the  Texas  question,  and  he  was  a  great  master  of  the  art  of 
silence. 

He  lived  so  close  to  the  roar  of  abolition  and  anti-annexa- 
tion that  he  dared  not  speak  for  it.  On  the  other  hand,  his 
principal  hope  for  nomination  and  election  lay  in  the  South. 
All  efforts  to  draw  a  statement  from  him  were  without  avail 
for  a  time,  when  some  of  the  Southern  Democratic  leaders 
laid  a  plan  to  "blow  Van  out  of  the  water.7' 

He  was  the  protege  of  Jackson,  who  had  made  him  Presi- 
dent. The  old  warrior  in  retirement  was  the  greatest  single 
force  in  the  Democratic  party,  and  the  great  passion  of  his 
closing  days  was  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  circum- 
vention of  England.  These  designing  gentlemen  who  would 

221 


TYLER  AND  TEXAS 

"blow  Van  out  of  the  water,"  betook  themselves  down  to 
the  Hermitage  and  got  a  strong  letter  from  Ex-President 
Jackson  outlining  what  the  party  and  Van  Buren  should  do. 
Unable  to  keep  silent  longer,  Van  Buren  came  forth  with 
his  statement,  long,  involved  and  pointless,  but  against  an- 
nexation at  this  time.  The  treaty  was  sent  to  the  Senate 
April  22,  1844,  where  it  was  doomed  to  remain  for  weary 
weeks. 

The  Whig  Convention  met  on  May  1st,  and  nominated 
Henry  Clay.  There  was  no  discussion  of  the  Texas  ques- 
tion in  the  Convention.  No  mention  of  it  in  the  platform. 
They  shunned  it  as  they  would  the  plague.  They  were  so 
afraid  of  it  that  they  did  not  mention  Oregon,  which  was 
much  coveted  in  the  Northern  and  Western  States.  A  dele- 
gate from  Mississippi  tried  to  be  heard  upon  the  question, 
but  was  unable  to  get  the  eye  or  the  ear  of  the  presiding 
officer.  Those  near  him  in  the  hall  hearing  the  drift  of  his 
remarks,  silenced  him  in  short  order.  "  Surely  you  would 
not  inject  this  ugly  Texas  question  and  injure  Henry  Clay, ' ' 
they  said  reproachfully,  and  he  lapsed  into  silence. 

It  was  now  a  foregone  conclusion  that  the  Texas  Treaty 
would  not  pass  the  Senate. 

Benton,  who  in  1836  had  declared  for  Sam  Houston  the 
greatest  military  accomplishment  since  Marc  Antony,  was 
the  spokesman  for  the  Democratic  majority,  and  the  mouth- 
piece for  Van  Buren.  He  turned  on  the  treaty  and  Texas 
with  bitter  venom. 

A  few  days  after  the  Whig  Convention  adjourned  there 
was  another  convention,  held  in  Baltimore,  which  nominated 
John  Tyler  for  President  on  a  purely  Texas  platform.  It 
was  made  up  of  self-appointed  delegates  from  all  sections 
of  the  country.  It  now  seeemed  sure  that  the  Democrats 
would  name  Van  Buren  and  denounce  the  treaty,  and  with 

222 


THE  FALL  OF  VAN  BUREN 

both  great  parties  opposed  to  it,  Tyler  hoped  to  get  enough 
votes  to  throw  the  presidential  choice  into  the  House  of 
Representatives,  where  it  would  be  a  free-for-all  fight. 
With  this  situation  prevailing,  the  National  Democratic 
Convention  met  at  Baltimore  on  the  27th  of  May,  1844. 


IX. 
THE  FALL  OF  VAN  BUREN. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  which  met  at  Bal- 
amore  in  May,  1844,  was  the  most  remarkable  one  which 
had  ever  assembled  during  the  fifty  years  of  our  national 
life.  It  was  the  first  to  name  a  "dark  horse"  candidate. 

For  twenty  years  Andrew  Jackson  had  been  the  idol  and 
leader  of  his  party.  At  the  end  of  his  second  term,  he  could 
have  been  nominated  and  elected  again,  but  never  considered 
such  a  course.  It  was  the  marvel  of  Europe  that  a  man  in 
power  would  voluntarily  surrender  it  as  he  did.  His  man- 
tle had  fallen  on  Martin  Van  Buren,  who  was  elected  to  suc- 
ceed him  in  1836,  but  was  defeated  for  a  second  term  in 
1840. 

But  Van  Buren  had  held  the  party  together,  and  by 
shrewd  management  had  all  but  assured  his  nomination 
in  1844.  But  for  the  sudden  advent  of  the  Texas  question 
he  would  have  been  nominated. 

The  Democratic  party  had  controlled  the  destiny  of  the 
country  during  its  formative  period,  and  had  elected  five 
out  of  eight  partisan  Presidents.  Under  Jefferson,  Louisiana 
had  been  acquired,  and  Monroe  had  added  the  Floridas.  All 
the  traditions  of  the  party  were  in  favor  of  an  expansion  and 

223 


THE  FALL  OF  VAN  BUREN 

the  mastery  of  North  America.  But  Van  Buren  was  a  man  of 
small  calibre,  and  fear  of  the  abolition  press  had  bullied 
him  into  a  declaration  against  the  treaty,  and  against  what 
had  always  been  the  policy  of  the  party.  He  had  more  than 
a  majority  of  delegates  pledged  to  his  support,  most  of 
the  pledges  having  been  given  before  Tyler  had  so  cruelly 
thrust  the  Texas  question  upon  both  parties.  But  the 
Southern  leaders  had  sworn  a  vow  that  he  should  not  be 
chosen.  The  voice  of  the  chaplain's  opening  prayer  had 
hardly  died  away  when  some  enterprising  person  moved 
that  the  convention  adopt  the  two-thirds  rule,  and  that  no 
nomination  be  declared  until  the  candidate  received  two- 
thirds  of  the  votes  cast. 

The  Southern  delegates,  instructed  for  Van  Buren,  voted 
for  the  adoption  of  this  rule,  for  in  it  they  saw  his  defeat, 
without  bolting  their  instructions.  The  friends  of  Texas 
were  now  in  the  saddle,  the  convention  was  deadlocked, 
Van  Buren  was  beaten,  and  the  Southern  delegates  brought 
forth  and  nominated  Ex-Governor  James  K.  Polk,  of  Ten- 
nessee, who  was  known  to  be  "whole  hogged  for  Texas." 
The  Democratic  platform  declared  for  the  re-annexation  of 
Texas  and  the  acquisition  of  Oregon.  George  M.  Dallas,  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  nominated  for  Vice-President. 

The  action  of  the  Democratic  Convention  championing 
the  cause  of  Texas  at  once  notified  the  world  that  the  issue 
was  to  be  fought  out  in  what  President  Wilson  would  have 
called  a  "great  and  solemn  referendum." 

But  Tyler's  treaty  was  still  before  the  Senate,  and  it 
was  yet  in  session.  The  Whigs  had  a  majority  of  seven  in 
that  body,  and  on  June  8th  they  defeated  the  treaty,  a 
solid  Whig  vote  of  28  out  of  29  being  cast  against  it,  seven 
Democrats,  lead  by  Benton,  voting  with  the  Whigs.  "We 
Have  killed  the  treaty  (said  Senator  McDuffie,  of  South  Car- 

224 


THE  FALL  OF  VAN  BUREN 

olina),  but  a  ghost  is  sometimes  more  terrible  than  a  living 
man. ' '  In  the  meantime  a  messenger  whom  Tyler  had  dis- 
patched to  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of  offering  to  purchase 
any  opposition  which  that  country  might  have  to  annexation 
of  Texas,  returned  with  the  information  that  that  countrv 
was  much  stirred,  and  that  no  peace  could  be  purchased  if 
we  should  carry  out  these  plans. 

Santa  Anna,  who  was  again  in  power  there,  asked  his 
Congress  for  men  and  money  to  resist  American  ag- 
gression. 

The  Presidential  campaign  in  1844  was  not  essentially  dif- 
ferent from  campaigns  we  have  known  in  our  day.  The 
Whigs  accepted  the  gauge  of  battle  with  hope  and  ardor. 
On  one  side  they  cried:  "Polk — Slavery  and  Texas,"  On 
the  other:  "Clay — Union  and  Liberty."  A  popular  Whig 
cry  was, '  *  James  K.  Polk  and  George  M.  Dallas — One  for  the 
devil  and  the  other  for  the  gallows."  Mass  meetings  were 
held  in  which  Texas  was  represented  upon  Whig  banners 
as  a  forbidding  looking  female  dressed  in  mourning.  Dem- 
ocratic meetings  displayed  banners  picturing  her  a  beau- 
tiful maiden  in  bridal  robes.  Poor  Clay  found  himself  in 
an  unhappy  situation.  When  he  had  come  out  so  boldly 
against  Texas  early  in  the  year,  he  knew  that  Van  Buren, 
whom  he  supposed  would  be  his  opponent,  would  do  like- 
wise, and  felt  that  there  would  be  no  issue  between  them, 
and  they  both  felt  that  it  would  not  be  a  party  ques- 
tion. 

Now  he  saw  Van  Buren  overthrown  and  a  Southern  Dem- 
ocrat opposed  to  him  declaring  for  Texas  and  Oregon.  At 
heart  Clay,  himself  a  Southern  man,  was  for  annexation, 
and  as  the  campaign  progressed  and  the  issue  became  doubt- 
ful, he  wrote  more  letters,  which  made  a  bad  matter  worse, 
and  let  it  be  known :  *  *  That  he  had  no  personal  objection 


225 


THE  FALL  OF  VAN  BUREN 

to  the  acquisition  of  Texas ;  *  *  *  that  he  would  be  glad 
to  see  it,  could  it  be  done  without  war  with  common  consent 
and  without  dishonor." 

The  most  powerful  figure  in  the  campaign  was  General 
Jackson,  who,  though  old  and  feeble,  held  the  acquisition  of 
Texas  as  the  last  strong  sentiment  of  his  wonderful  ca- 
reer. 

Hatred  of  England  had  ever  been  a  passion  with  him 
and  hostility  to  that  country  was  the  strongest  single  senti- 
ment which  the  Democrats  sounded  up  and  down  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land.  The  old  warrior  sat  in  his  home 
down  in  Tennessee  and  wrote  letters  day  and  night,  wrote 
with  a  feeble,  trembling  hand,  directed  by  the  fire  of  a  yet 
powerful  mind.  It  is  estimated  that  he  wrote  hundreds  of 
autograph  letters  to  Democratic  leaders  north  and  south, 
making  suggestions,  giving  directions.  In  one  letter :  ' '  Sup- 
port the  cause  of  Polk  and  Texas,  let  Tyler  alone."  In 
another — '  *  I  am  too  weak  to  write  much  more,  but  with  my 
last  word  I  warn  you  against  England,  for  it  will  grab 
Texas,  if  Polk  is  defeated."  Through  Jackson's  influence, 
President  Tyler  was  induced  to  withdraw  from  the  race 
and  cast  his  strength  to  Polk. 

Sam  Houston  had  secretly  and  powerfully  aided  the  is- 
sue by  creating  an  atmosphere  which  seemed  to  verify 
Jackson's  warnings  against  England. 

Polk  was  elected  by  a  popular  majority  of  less  than  forty 
thousand  votes.  But  defeat  of  the  treaty  in  the  Senate  in 
preceding  June  had  cast  a  great  calm  over  Texas.  We  had 
turned  from  offers  of  British  aid  to  accept  annexation,  and 
with  the  door  shut  in  our  face  by  the  Senate,  Texas  was  de- 
graded before  the  world.  At  home  credit  sank  to  its  low- 
est ebb.  Annexation  had  been  turned  down  so  often  by 
the  American  Congress  that  the  Texas  people  did  not  ac- 

226 


TYLER'S  TRIUMPH 

cept  the  election  of  Polk  as  decisive.  They  yet  feared  that 
the  United  States  Senate  would  never  accept  Texas;  that 
Pol£  could  do  no  more  than  Tyler  had  been  able  to  do  with  a 
hostile  Senate. 

Mexico,  angered  at  the  turn  of  affairs,  gave  notice  that 
hostilities  were  renewed,  and  Santa  Anna  began  pretended 
preparations  to  wage  a  campaign  upon  Texas  by  land  and 
by  sea. 


X. 


TYLER'S  TRIUMPH. 

John  Tyler  was  a  man  of  great  energy,  and  the  "re-an- 
nexation of  Texas"  was  the  prime  purpose  of  his  adminis- 
tration. During  the  campaign  of  '44,  he  had  withdrawn 
from  the  race  and  thrown  his  influence  to  Polk,  and  he  ac- 
cepted Polk's  election  as  a  victory  for  his  great  purpose. 

When  Congress  met  in  December,  one  of  the  first  things 
President  Tyler  did  was  to  send  in  a  strong  message  urging 
legislation  for  the  admission  of  Texas,  and  with  it  he  sub- 
mitted data  from  Mexico,  including  the  boast  of  Santa  An- 
na that  he  was  about  to  invade  Texas  and  conduct  a  mer- 
ciless campaign  for  its  reconquest.  Mexico  had  been  an- 
gered and  aroused  by  the  election  of  Polk  on  a  platform 
which  declared  for  acquiring  Texas,  and  sharp,  bitter  cor- 
respondence had  passed  between  the  two  countries.  Then, 
too,  Tyler  had  given  his  word  to  Houston  in  1843  that  if 
the  treaty  negotiated  that  year  should  fail,  Texas  should 
have  the  aid  of  the  United  States  in  the  event  Mexico  re- 
newed the  war  against  Texas. 

227 


TYLER'S  TRIUMPH 

England  was  genuinely  alarmed,  and  British  papers  were 
filled  with  warnings  to  that  Government  against  allowing 
the  United  States  to  acquire  Texas.  Whatever  doubt  may 
have  existed  about  the  fate  of  annexation,  as  far  as  the 
United  States  was  concerned,  was  dissolved  by  the  ill-timed 
and  unwarranted  attacks  by  the  English  press  and  the  in- 
trigues which  England  put  on  foot  to  block  the  Union 
of  Texas  with  the  States. 

The  London  "Morning  Post"  exclaimed:  "The  Repub- 
was  the  triumph  of  all  that  was  worst  in  American  life,  and 
that  England  and  all  Europe  must  resist  the  extension  of 
the  United  States  to  the  southwest. ' ' 

The  London  "Morning  Post"  exclaimed;  "The  Repub- 
lican monster  must  be  checked."  Many  people  throughout 
the  United  States  and  some  of  the  leading  journals  were 
turned  to  annexation  by  these  British  indiscretions,  which 
fulfilled  to  a  degree  the  forebodings  of  General  Jackson. 

And  while  it  seemed  politic  to  allow  the  matter  to  await 
the  inauguration  of  Polk,  in  March  next,  yet  there  was  a 
general  feeling  that  it  was  dangerous  to  wait. 

A  prominent  Democratic  Congressman,  speaking  of  Ty- 
ler's message,  warned  the  country:  "Let  not  procrastina- 
tion be  the  thief  of  Texas."  Resolutions  for  annexation 
were  promptly  introduced  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  and 
from  December  to  February  the  battle  in  that  forum  was 
waged  and  won. 

A  resolution  for  annexation  of  Texas  was  offered  and  after 
passing  the  Senate  and  the  House,  it  had  President  Ty- 
ler's signature  on  February  27,  1845,  just  five  days  before 
his  term  of  office  expired. 

The  fight  in  Congress  was  a  spectacular  one,  and  the 
galleries  were  thronged  from  day  to  day  as  the  debates  pro- 
gressed. 


228 


TYLER'S  TRIUMPH 

Benton,  who  had  fought  the  treaty  so  bitterly  in  June, 
found  ground  to  support  the  cause  in  February.  Its  final 
passage  was  by  a  strictly  party  vote,  the  Whigs  voting  almost 
solidly  against  it.  But  there  was  a  rift  in  the  clouds  of 
northern  opposition,  and  most  of  the  northern  and  east- 
ern Democrats  voted  for  it.  The  Legislature  of  Ohio  in- 
structed its  Senators  to  support  it. 

The  northern  abolitionists  received  the  result  with  ire  and 
anguish,  and  Garrison,  who  in  1842  declared  "That  any  one 
supporting  Texas  would  dethrone  God,"  now  wrote  in  his 
Boston  paper  that  the  joint  resolution  of  Congress  "was  a 
deed  of  perfidy  as  black  as  Egyptian  darkness." 

While  the  debates  were  proceeding  in  January  and  Feb- 
ruary, 1845,  President-elect  Polk  came  up  to  Washington 
from  his  home  in  Tennessee,  and  mingled  with  members  of 
Congress,  throwing  the  weight  of  his  influence  into  the  scale. 
<rThe  pressure  of  two  Presidents  and  an  Ex-President  is 
too  much  for  us,"  exclaimed  a  Whig  Senator. 

The  defeat  of  the  treaty  by  the  Senate  in  June  had 
brought  the  Tyler  administration  face  to  face  with  its  ob- 
ligations to  Texas,  which  had  been  exacted  by  President 
Houston  in  1843  before  he  would  negotiate  the  treaty.  He 
had  stipulated,  and  Tyler  had  promised,  that  in  the  event 
the  Senate  should  fail  to  ratify  the  treaty  and  the  negotia- 
tions should  bring  on  war  with  Mexico,  that  the  United 
States  would  aid  Texas  and  guarantee  her  independence. 

Tyler  probably  had  no  constitutional  authority  to  make 
such  a  promise  and  less  to  perform  it,  nevertheless  he  acted 
promptly  to  make  it  good.  On  September  10,  1844,  John 
C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  State,  sent  through  Shannon, 
American  Minister  to  Mexico,  a  most  remarkable  and  vigor- 
ous paper  which  in  terms  warned  Mexico  to  let  Texas  alone. 
Calhoun  advised  that  the  rejection  of  the  treaty  by  the 


229 


TYLER'S  TRIUMPH 

Senate  did  not  mean  the  abandonment  of  annexation,  but 
that  the  United  States  intended  to  acquire  Texas,  and  any 
invasion  of  Texas  by  Mexico  pending  these  negotiations 
still  pending  would  be  resented  by  the  United  States;  that 
the  President  had  fully  determined  that  Texas  should  not 
suffer  at  the  hands  of  Mexico  because  of  the  recent  over- 
tures towards  annexation. 

* '  If  Mexico  has  taken  offense  at  these  negotiations, ' '  said 
Mr.  Calhoun,  '  *  it  should  attack  the  United  States,  as  we  are 
the  ones  who  proposed  annexation." 

The  loud  threats  of  Mexico,  which  became  louder  after 
the  November  election,  brought  Tyler's  promise  to  Houston 
into  a  present  obligation,  and  was  a  cause. for  Tyler's  ur- 
gency in  submitting  the  Texas  question  in  December  in- 
stead of  passing  it  over  to  Folk's  administration,  which 
would  not  begin  until  March. 

There  has  been  much  criticism  of  Tyler  and  Polk  for 
the  war  plans  they  carried  on  in  the  latter  part  of  1844,  and 
during  1845.  It  has  been  written  and  millions  believe  that 
Polk  without  warrant  provoked  a  war  of  conquest  with  Mex- 
ico. But  when  one  remembers  that  Texas  was  a  free  coun- 
try when  Tyler  began  negotiations  for  annexation  in  1843, 
and  that  he  had  given  President  Houston  his  promise  that 
it  should  not  suffer  as  the  result  of  these  negotiations  if  the 
treaty  should  fail,  and  when  we  see  Mexico  blustering  with 
preparations  for  a  merciless  campaign  against  Texas  be- 
cause of  these  very  negotiations,  we  are  lead  to  reverence 
the  memories  of  Tyler  and  Calhoun  and  Polk  for  the  mili- 
tary preparations  they  began  in  1844  and  carried  forward 
in  '45  and  '46,  while  the  details  of  annexation  were  being 
worked  out  by  both  countries. 

The  greatest  triumph  in  American  History  after  the 
Revolution  of  1776  was  the  prompt,  powerful  way  the 


230 


THE  ACTIVITY  OF  ENGLAND 

Tyler  and  Polk  administrations  moved  to  solidify  Texas  and 
put  the  flag  over  the  country  west  to  the  Pacific. 


XI. 
THE  ACTIVITY  OF  ENGLAND. 

England  had  determined  that  Texas  should  not  become 
part  of  the  American  Union,  and  hoped  that  Mexico  would 
reconquer  it,  and  long  after  all  hope  of  this  reconquest  was 
obviously  gone,  it  acknowledged  Texas  Independence.  The 
overwhelming  defeat  of  annexation  in  the  American  Con- 
gress in  1837,  and  the  loud  roarings  of  the  northern  and 
eastern  press  mislead  England  into  the  thought  there  was 
no  chance  that  this  country  would  ever  accept  Texas. 

^When  Tyler's  treaty  of  1844  became  known,  there  was  an 
active  and  vigorous  movement  among  English  diplomats, 
and  Lord  Aberdeen  sought  an  understanding  with  the 
French  Government  that  the  two  countries  would  join 
Mexico  in  preventing  annexation.  Guizot,  the  Prime  Min- 
ister in  the  Government  of  Louis  Phillipe,  seems  to  have 
committed  his  country  to  such  a  course,  and  if  France  had 
remained  bound  it  is  apparent  that  there  would  have  been 
a  world  war  if  the  United  States  had  persisted  in  the  course 
it  did  pursue. 

But  when  it  became  known  in  France  that  the  Govern- 
ment had  made  such  a  commitment,  there  was  an  explo- 
sion such  as  can  only  happen  in  the  French  Chamber,  and 
Guizot  was  denounced  as  the  tool  of  England  and  for  hav- 
ing turned  on  an  old  friend  to  serve  the  purposes  of  an 
ancient  enemy.  All  hope  that  France  would  aid  England 

231 


THE  ACTIVITY  OF  ENGLAND 

by  force  of  arms  was  gone,  yet  the  Government  of  Louis 
Phillipe  did  continue  to  give  its  moral  support  through  dip- 
lomatic pressure  to  prevent  annexation.  But  the  British 
Minister  at  Washington  forecasted  the  defeat  of  the  Tyler 
treaty,  and  after  the  Democrat  and  Whig  parties  had  named 
their  candidates  and  made  Texas  an  issue,  Lord  Aberdeen 
and  his  counsellors  wisely  determined  to  lay  low  and  await 
results.  They  knew  that  any  British  activity  at  this  junc- 
ture would  mean  the  defeat  of  Clay,  and  their  ardent  hope 
was  for  his  election,  which  they  thought  would  close  the  door 
to  annexation.  The  election  of  Polk  upset  all  their  calcu- 
lations. When  in  December,  1844,  Tyler  again  submitted 
the  question  to  Congress,  and  it  became  evident  that  it  was 
to  be  rushed  to  a  conclusion,  there  was  a  great  activity  in 
the  British  Foreign  Office,  and  a  definite  plan  was  at  once 
worked  out.  It  was  well  known  in  London  as  in  Washing- 
ton that  what  the  people  of  Texas  wanted  above  all  things 
was  peace  and  protection  against  Mexico,  and  a  surcease  of 
the  ten  long  years  of  semi-warfare  which  prevailed.  And 
so  the  English  Ministry,  bound  to  act  in  great  haste,  and 
bound  to  offer  Texas  some  real  inducement  to  stay  out  of 
the  American  Union,  sought  the  seemingly  hopeless  task 
of  inducing  Mexico  to  acknowledge  Texas  Independence 
and  make  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Texas  upon  condition  that 
it  would  not  join  the  American  Union.  This  was  indeed  a 
bold  plan,  and  one  familiar  with  the  Mexican  History  of 
this  period  will  be  struck  with  the  height  of  British  diplo- 
matic audacity  and  daring.  Since  the  campaign  of  1836, 
it  had  been  the  hope  by  day  and  dream  by  night  of  all 
Mexico  to  reconquer  Texas.  Mexican  officers  who  could  not 
have  been  induced  this  side  of  the  Rio  Grande  by  any 
earthly  consideration,  were  eternally  swashbuckling  up  and 

232 


THE  ACTIVITY  OF  ENGLAND 

down  the  tropics  declaring  that  they  would  soon  lead  an 
army  into  Texas. 

Every  Mexican  President  or  Dictator  who  ruled  his 
alloted  day  could  raise  large  sums  of  money  through  the 
Mexican  Congress  for  a  campaign  in  Texas.  Santa  Anna, 
who  was  now  and  then  in  power  during  this  period,  1836  to 
1845,  was  always  announcing  vast  plans  for  such  a  cam- 
paign. 

But  the  situation  was  desperate  with  the  British  Minis- 
try, goaded  on  by  an  arrogant  English  press,  which  demand- 
ed that  Texas  be  kept  out  of  the  American  Union.  A  lead- 
ing London  journal  declared  in  brutal  British  frankness, 
that  Texas,  in  fact  all  North  America,  should  be  under  a 
kind  of  British  suzerainty."  "The  Republican  monster 
must  be  checked/'  and  since  France  would  not  agree  to  an 
alliance  to  employ  force,  it  must  be  done  by  cunning.  While 
the  Texas  question  was  being  debated  in  the  American 
Congress  in  January  and  February,  1845,  and  when  it  was 
obvious  that  a  resolution  declaring  for  admission  would 
pass,  Almonte,  the  Mexican  Minister  to  Washington,  de- 
manded his  passports  and  let  it  be  known  that  war  would 
follow  annexation. 

When  Terrell,  Texas  Minister  to  England  and  France, 
succeeding  Doctor  Smith,  reached  London  in  January,  1845, 
he  was  bluntly  told  that  news  had  preceded  him  that  the 
new  President  of  Texas,  Anson  Jones,  was  an  avowed  ad- 
vocate of  annexation,  and  if  so  Texas  need  expect  no  aid 
from  England  in  any  of  its  problems. 

Mr.  Terrell  hastened  to  correct  this  erroneous  impression, 
and  reported  that  thereafterwards  a  very  different  atmos- 
phere prevailed,  and  he  was  given  many  kindly  suggestions 
and  offers  of  English  aid  which  indeed  were  helpful,  for  as 
yet  the  American  Congress  had  not  passed  the  annexation 

233 


DIPLOMATS  GATHER  ALONG  THE  BRAZOS 

resolution,   and  was  still  violently   debating   Tyler's   De- 
cember message. 


XII. 
DIPLOMATS  GATHER  ALONG  THE  BRAZOS. 

Foreseeing  a  shrewd  diplomatic  duel,  and  fully  advised 
as  to  England's  plans,  President  Tyler  named  Andrew 
Jackson  Donnelson,  nephew  of  General  Jackson,  and  a  man 
of  unusual  force  and  sagacity,  Charge  to  Texas. 

The  British  Government  was  and  had  for  some  years 
been  represented  in  Texas  by  Charles  Elliot,  a  former  sea 
captain,  who  had  been  so  long  in  the  country  as  to  be  well 
acquainted  with  its  people  and  .its  public  men. 

The  French  Government  was  represented  by  an  impetu- 
ous ass,  Compte  de  Saligny,  who  had  found  Austin  an  un- 
comfortable place  to  live,  and  after  quarreling  with  every- 
body in  town,  had  removed  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  looked 
after  French  affairs  in  Texas  at  a  long  range. 

In  December,  1844,  a  few  days  before  Tyler  sent  his 
last  Texas  message  to  Congress,  Anson  Jones  became  Pres- 
ident of  Texas.  Although  it  was  known  that  annexation 
would  be  offered  Texas  in  a  few  months,  he  wisely  made 
no  mention  of  this  ever-absorbing  topic  in  his  inaugural 
address.  President  Jones  had  seen  annexation  offered  and 
snatched  away  too  often  to  be  over-sanguine  at  present 
prospects.  Shortly  after  his  inauguration  he  advised  Cap- 
tain Elliot  that  if  Mexico  could  be  brought  to  recognize  the 
independence  of  Texas,  he  favored  declining  annexation, 
and  he  invited  the  British  and  French  Governments  to  in- 


234 


DIPLOMATS  GATHER  ALONG  THE  BRAZOS 

terest  themselves  to  that  end.  This  was  just  what  England 
hoped  for.  Congress  had  not  then  acted  on  Tyler's  Decem- 
ber message,  nor  did  Jones  know  that  the  question  had  been 
put  before  the  closing  session  of  Tyler's  last  Congress.  He 
supposed  negotiations  would  await  the  inauguration  of 
Polk.  While  these  assurances  were  being  given  the  British 
Representative,  Ashabel  Smith,  Secretary  of  State  in  Texas, 
wrote  the  Texas  charge  at  Washington  "that  the  President 
(Jones)  wished  him  to  use  his  most  strenuous  exertions  for 
annexation."  When  the  news  reached  Galveston  in  the 
latter  days  of  March,  1845,  that  Congress  had  passed  and 
Tyler  approved  a  plan  for  the  annexation,  Captain  Elliot, 
and  Compte  de  Saligny,  hearing  that  Colonel  Donnelson 
was  on  his  way  from  Washington,  D.  C.,  to  Washington 
on  the  Brazos,  with  an  official  communication  from  Presi- 
dent Polk  to  President  Jones,  made  great  haste  to  Washing- 
ton on  the  Brazos,  which  was  for  the  time  being  the  seat  of 
Texas  Government. 

Once  there  they  went  into  a  long  conference  with  Pres- 
ident Jones  and  Doctor  Ashabel  Smith,  and  urged  many 
good  reasons  why  Texas  should  remain  independent. 

President  Jones  advised  them  that  while  he  personally 
thought  Texas  should  remain  a  nation,  yet  he  realized  that 
the  people  of  Texas  desired  annexation,  and  he  saw  in  him- 
self merely  their  agent. 

After  many  conferences  with  his  Cabinet  and  after  taking 
the  matter  under  advisement  for  several  days,  he  finally,  on 
March  29th,  tentatively  agreed  with  the  representatives  of 
England  and  France  upon  the  outline  of  a  treaty  which 
they  were  authorized  to  procure  from  Mexico : 

1.  Mexico  consents  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of 
Texas. 

2.  Texas  will  not  annex  herself  to  any  country. 

235 


DIPLOMATS  GATHER  ALONG  THE  BRAZOS 

3.  Boundaries  to  be  fixed  in  final  treaty  or  submitted 
to  arbitration. 

While  these  worthy  diplomats  were  procuring  these 
things  to  be  done  they  exacted  that  for  ninety  days  from 
date  Texas  would  not  enter  into  any  negotiations  for  annex- 
ation. These  things  done,  Captain  Elliot  agreed  in  further- 
ance of  the  plan  to  go  at  once  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  he 
and  the  Compte  de  Saligny  scampered  down  the  Brazos, 
the  Captain  going  incognito  to  Vera  Cruz,  and  the  Compte 
back  to  his  well  stocked  wine  cellar  at  New  Orleans,  each 
thinking  he  had  overawed  the  President  of  Texas,  and 
outwitted  the  President  of  the  United  States.  On  their 
way  out  of  town  they  met  Colonel  Donnelson,  the  American 
Charge,  who  was  hastening  for  an  interview  with  President 
Jones,  and  to  lay  before  him  and  the  Texas  Congress  the 
plan  of  annexation. 

It  was  known  that  the  Texas  Congress  was  overwhelming- 
ly for  annexation,  and  since  the  Resolution  of  the  American 
Congress  only  called  for  ratification  by  the  Texas  Govern- 
ment, it  was  planned  by  President  Jones  and  Doctor  Smith 
not  to  call  Congress  in  session  until  these  envoys  had  an 
opportunity  to  try  their  hands  in  getting  the  Mexican 
Treaty.  President  Jones  hoped  to  be  able  to  lay  before 
Congress,  when  he  -assembled  it,  not  only  a  plan  for  an- 
nexation, but  the  alternative  of  remaining  an  independent 
nation  with  a  settlement  of  all  troubles  with  Mexico,  and 
this  he  did. 

Colonel  Donnelson  did  not  find  a  congenial  atmosphere 
at  Washington  on  the  Brazos,  when  he  arrived  there  on 
April  1,  1845,  and  laid  the  plan  of  annexation  before  Pres- 
ident Jones  and  his  Cabinet.  The  President  took  the  mat- 
ter under  advisement,  for  he  said  the  gravity  of  the  situ- 
ation would  not  permit  haste. 

236 


DIPLOMATS  GATHER  ALONG  THE  BRAZOS 

When  Colonel  Donnelson  urged  him  to  convene  Congress, 
he  said  he  had  decided  to  lay  it  before  the  people  through  a 
convention  to  be  called  for  that  purpose. 

Unable  to  get  Jones  to  call  Congress  in  session,  Donnel- 
son sought  Ex-President  Houston,  whom  he  found  at  his 
home  in  Huntsville,  and  was  much  surprised  to  learn  that 
he  too  was  unfavorable  to  an  acceptance  of  the  resolution 
which  had  passed  Congress  in  February.  He  did  not  think 
it  fair  to  Texas,  and  pointed  out  some  sharp  objections  to  it, 
and  proposed  that  negotiations  between  the  two  countries 
be  begun  and  a  treaty  of  annexation  agreed  upon.  He 
favored  a  treaty  because  it  could  be  abrogated  at  any  time 
by  either  party,  and  one  wonders  what  would  have  hap- 
pened in  1861  had  Texas  come  into  the  Union  under  such  a 
treaty.  But  it  was  explained  to  Houston  that  President 
Polk  and  Secretary  of  State  Buchanan  did  not  think  it  wise 
to  delay  while  negotiations  would  be  going  forward,  and 
he  withdrew  his  objections  at  least  to  the  extent  that  he 
used  no  effort  to  frustrate  Donnelson 's  plans,  and  took  a 
trip  to  the  Hermitage  for  a  farewell  to  Jackson.  Donnel- 
son was  not  openly  told,  but  indeed  he  heard  it  on  the  streets, 
that  an  "offer  from  Mexico"  might  be  made  at  any  time 
and  that  the  Texas  Government  was  waiting  for  it. 

In  the  meantime  April  was  well  advanced,  and  the  people 
of  Texas  had  become  very  impatient  of  delay,  and  very 
strong  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  President  Jones  to 
convene  Congress  and  all  kinds  of  rumors  were  afloat  as 
to  his  designs  against  annexation.  In  fact  a  plan  was  well 
on  foot  to  convene  Congress  anyhow  if  he  did  not  act,  and 
the  murmurings  were  so  loud  and  the  criticism  of  the  Gov- 
ernment so  great  that  the  Mexican  Consul  at  New  Orleans 
advised  his  Government  that  a  revolution  was  imminent  in 
Texas. 


237 


CAPTAIN  ELLIOT  IN  MEXICO 

Yielding  to  these  importunities  before  he  had  time  to  hear 
from  Captain  Elliot,  President  Jones  issued  a  proclama- 
tion on  April  15, 1845,  calling  Congress  to  meet  at  Washing- 
ton on  the  Brazos  on  June  16th.  He  calculated  that  this 
would  give  Elliot  time  to  accomplish  whatever  could  be  done 
in  Mexico.  Doctor  Jones'  slow,  calculating  movements  and 
Doctor  Ashabel  Smith's  known  views  against  annexation 
aroused  much  feeling  in  Texas  in  the  spring  of  1845,  and 
the  country  was  at  a  white  heat  as  the  hour  approached  for 
the  extraordinary  session  of  Congress  in  June. 


XIII. 
CAPTAIN  ELLIOT  IN  MEXICO. 

Captain  Charles  Elliot  was  not  a  great  man,  but  he  was 
an  energetic  one,  and  he  had  lost  no  time  in  getting  from 
Washington  on  the  Brazos  to  Galveston,  where,  by  a  fine  co- 
incidence, he  found  a  British  man-of-war  at  his  disposal. 
He  took  passage  on  this  vessel,  giving  it  out  that  he  was  go- 
ing to  New  Orleans,  but  was  landed  at  Vera  Cruz,  from 
where  he  hastened  on  to  the  City  of  Mexico. 

April,  1845,  was  an  off  season  for  Santa  Anna,  who  was 
for  the  time  being  out  of  power  and  in  exile  (but  he  came 
back  next  year).  Herrera  was,  between  revolutions,  as  it 
were,  President  ad  interim  of  Mexico,  and  to  him  and  his 
Cabinet  Captain  Elliot,  assisted  by  the  British  Minister  to 
Mexico,  addressed  the  proposition  which  he  brought  from 
the  President  of  Texas. 


238 


CAPTAIN  ELLIOT  IN  MEXICO 

It  contemplated  that  Mexico  would  acknowledge  Texas 
independence,  upon  condition  that  Texas  would  not  join  the 
American  Union,  boundaries  to  be  settled  later. 

The  proposition  at  first  aroused  great  opposition  at  the 
Mexican  Capital.  *  *  Give  up  Texas,  never, ' '  was  the  scream 
of  Mexican  papers  and  the  wild  boast  of  swashbuckling  Mex- 
ican military  men.  But  the  British  envoys  worked  power- 
fully on  their  fears.  If  they  did  not  do  this,  Texas  would 
be  forced  into  the  American  Union  for  protection  against 
the  ' '  great  military  force  of  Mexico. "  "  The  acquisition  of 
Texas  by  the  United  States  made  that  detested  country  the 
next  door  neighbor  of  Mexico,  and  an  effort  would  follow  to 
conquer  and  annex  Mexico." 

In  proof  of  this  the  relators  read  from  debates  in  the 
American  Congress,  where  excited  Whig  leaders  had  openly 
charged  that  the  Southern  Democrats  contemplated  the  ex- 
tension of  empire  to  Panama  and  the  Pacific.  And  as  con- 
firmation of  the  perfidy  of  these  Southern  Democrats,  if 
corroborations  were  necessary  in  the  Mexican  mind,  they 
read  and  published  the  awful  indictments  brought  against 
them  by  northern  newspapers.  These  arguments  were  rein- 
forced by  Juan  Nepomuceno  Almonte,  Mexican  Minister 
to  the  United  States,  who  had  left  Washington  upon  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Annexation  Act  in  February. 

Almonte,  who  was  a  man  of  great  influence  in  Mexico, 
urged  his  Government  to  accede  to  the  British  proposals, 
for  he  favored  and  impressed  his  people  with  the  apprehen- 
sion that  the  acquisition  of  Texas  meant  the  conquest  of 
Mexico  by  the  United  States  of  the  North.  This  fear  had 
foundation  with  Almonte,  for  he  had  been  at  San  Jacinto. 
But  it  was  an  awful  thing  for  the  Mexican  Government  to 
do:  "Give  up  Texas  to  those  mendicants  who  came  to  us 
and  asked  for  land,  and  who  forgot  our  kindness  and  bounty 

239 


CAPTAIN  ELLIOT  IN  MEXICO 

and  turned  traitor  and  brigand."  How  they  suffered  in 
the  flesh  as  they  struggled  between  this  awful  sacrifice  and 
the  fear  of  seeing  all  Mexico  become  an  American  depend- 
ency. 

When  the  English  diplomats  pressed  them  to  act,  they 
professed  a  willingness  to  do  so  if  England  would  guaran- 
tee Mexican  sovereignty  and  the  boundaries  between  Mexico 
and  the  United  States,  but  just  here  there  was  a  want  of 
zeal  on  the  part  of  Her  Majesty's  representatives,  for  this 
meant  war,  and  after  France  had  withdrawn  from  the  pact 
of  Guizot,  England  was  not  willing  to  go  to  war  alone.  Fi- 
nally the  point  was  urged  that  Mexican  honor  was  saved, 
since  Texas  was  here  suing  for  peace,  and -making  a  conces- 
sion in  order  to  get  the  boon  of  Mexican  permission  to  live 
and  be  an  independent  nation. 

While  these  conversations  were  going  forward  at  the 
Mexican  Capital,  news  came  late  in  April  that  President 
Jones  had  issued  a  call  convening  the  Texas  Congress  in 
June.  Captain  Elliot  knew  full  well  what  this  meant,  and 
knew  that  the  only  hope  of  defeating  annexation  lay  in  his 
returning  to  Texas  at  once  with  a  treaty  between  Texas 
and  Mexico  ready  to  be  presented  for  ratification  when  this 
Congress  met. 

Daily  during  April  reports  reached  Mexico  that  the  Unit- 
ed States  was  sending  war  ships  into  the  Gulf  and  was 
massing  troops  on  the  Texas  frontier,  and  finally  Elliot, 
and  Bankhead,  the  British  Minister  to  Mexico,  succeeding 
in  wringing  and  extracting  an  agreement  from  the  Mexican 
Congress  to  make  the  Texas  treaty  in  order  to  frustrate 
the  designs  of  the  United  States.  On  the  last  day  of  May, 
1845,  Elliot  was  again  in  Galveston  armed  with  the  Mexican 
agreement  to  make  a  treaty  acknowledging  Texas  inde- 
pendence on  condition  it  would  not  unite  with  the  United 


240 


CAPTAIN  ELLIOT  IN  MEXICO 

States.  But  all  the  diplomats  in  the  world  could  not  have 
accomplished  the  task  that  had  been  assigned  this  retired 
sea  captain. 

While  President  Jones  hesitated  and  took  matters  under 
advisement  and  waited  to  hear  from  Elliot,  things  were 
happening  in  Texas.  Bancroft  Libr&r* 

Colonel  A.  J.  Donnelson,  nephew  of  Ancfrew  Jackson  and 
accredited  representative  of  the  United  States  in  Texas,  was 
a  modest,  quiet  person,  who  moved  with  great  celerity  and 
acted  with  great  accuracy.  He  knew  where  Colonel  Elliot 
had  gone  and  what  he  was  doing,  and  he  was  in  constant 
touch  with  the  leaders  of  thought  in  Texas,  and  worked 
with  them  to  stir  public  sentiment.  He  made  great  capital 
out  of  the  intrigues  of  England,  and  exposed  them  to  such 
men  as  Sidney  Sherman,  Edward  Burleson,  General  Rusk 
and  others  who  were  working  with  him. 

Colonel  Elliot  helped  Donnelson  by  his  free  talk,  seeing 
upon  his  return  that  the  tide  had  set  heavily  against  him. 
He  talked  loosely  and  wildly  of  coming  trouble,  and  pre- 
dicted dire  disaster  if  Texas  attempted  to  join  the  Union. 
He  said  that  England  and  France  would  join  Mexico  in  a 
war  against  the  United  States,  and  that  Texas  would  be  the 
battleground  of  a  long,  bloody  world  war. 

Speaking  as  the  accredited  agent  of  England,  many  be- 
lieved that  he  knew  what  he  was  talking  about,  and  that 
grave  trouble  would  follow.  But  the  people  who  had  come 
into  the  wilderness  with  Austin,  and  who  had  suffered  the 
hardships  of  the  quarter  of  a  century  which  had  intervened, 
could  not  be  bullied,  and  the  blustering  talk  of  this  retired 
sea  captain,  though  he  spoke  as  the  envoy  of  the  British 
Empire,  carried  little  terror  to  the  heart  of  the  average 
Texan. 

On  May  5th,  a  few  days  after  Elliot's  return,  President 


241 


CAPTAIN  ELLIOT  IN  MEXICO 

Jones  issued  a  call  for  a  general  convention  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Texas  at  Austin  on  the  fourth  of  the  following  July, 
"to  consider  the  overture  of  the  United  States." 

President  Jones  was  abused  and  driven  out  of  public 
life  for  what  the  people  of  Texas  always  believed  to  be  his 
attitude  towards  annexation,  and  his  willingness  to  form 
an  alliance  with  England  and  Mexico  against  the  United 
States. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  had  seen  the  United 
States  turn  bitterly  on  Texas  in  1837.  He  had  witnessed 
the  fate  of  the  Tyler  treaty  in  1844,  a  treaty  which  the 
Washington  Government  had  sought  and  urged  the  people 
of  Texas  to  make.  No  man  foresaw  just -what  would  happen 
in  the  United  States  even  as  late  as  May  and  June,  1845. 
In  January  of  that  year  James  Reilly,  sometimes  our  rep- 
resentative at  Washington,  wrote  Jones:  "Annexation  is 
very  much  like  the  Millerite  doctrine  of  the  end  of  the 
world.  It  may  be  today,  it  may  be  next  session,  it  may 
not  be  until  the  saints  of  this  generation  are  all  dead." 
Houston  had  said  to  Jones,  shortly  before  the  latter  became 
President,  that  in  dealing  with  this  question  the  Texas  Gov- 
ernment '  *  Should  be  wise  as  lynxes  and  as  sly  as  foxes. ' ' 

Now  Doctor  Anson  Jones,  though  a  good  man  and  a  true 
patriot,  was  not  an  artist  in  the  lynx-fox  game.  He  lacked 
the  training  and  much  of  the  great  ability  of  the  old  Chero- 
kee Chief,  and  in  all  this  dilemma  he  was  trying  to  play 
Houston  without  Houston's  ability  or  experience.  He  was 
not  at  home  in  a  game  of  duplicity  and  diplomacy. 

It  was  with  a  degree  of  pride  and  a  consciousness  of  hav- 
ing done  Texas  a  great  service  that  President  Jones  made 
public  announcement  of  the  Mexican  treaty  in  May.  Here 
he  gave  his  people  the  choice  to  remain  an  independent 
nation  with  high  guaranties  of  territorial  integrity,  or  to 

242 


THE  LAST  ACT  IN  THE  GREAT  DRAMA  OF  ANNEXATION 

become  associated  with  the  Union.     They  were  no  longer 
driven  to  join  the  United  States  for  peace  and  protection. 

But  the  news,  instead  of  being  received  in  this  spirit, 
roused  a  storm  all  over  Texas  which  would  have  overthrown 
his  Government  were  it  "not  for  the  fact  that  he  had  con- 
vened Congress  to  meet  within  less  than  thirty  days. 


XIV. 

THE  LAST  ACT  IN  THE  GREAT  DRAMA 
OF  ANNEXATION. 

The  Ninth  Congress  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  met  in  ex- 
traordinary session  at  Washington  on  the  Brazos  on  the 
16th  day  of  June,  1845,  to  consider  the  matter  of  annexa- 
tion. 

In  his  message  President  Jones  laid  before  Congress  the 
American  proposition  of  annexation,  and  also  the  proposed 
Mexican  treaty.  The  sentiment  of  the  people  of  Texas  will 
be  well  explained  by  the  fact  that  annexation  was  accepted 
by  the  unanimous  vote  of  both  houses  of  Congress,  and  that 
the  Mexican  treaty  was  unanimously  rejected.  These 
things  so  promptly  done,  Congress  gave  sanction  to  Presi- 
dent Jones'  convention  called  to  meet  at  Austin  on  the  4th 
of  the  following  July,  for  it  was  necessary  for  the  people  of 
Texas  to  form  a  State  constitution  and  set  up  a  State  Gov- 
ernment. 

In  justice  to  the  memory  of  Anson  Jones,  and  as  a  vindi- 
cation of  his  caution  and  refusal  to  put  absolute  faith  in  the 
American  overture  of  February,  1845,  we  should  remember 
the  fate  of  similar  overtures  during  the  last  decade,  and  also 

243 


THE  LAST  ACT  IN  THE  GREAT  DRAMA  OF  ANNEXATION 

it  is  worthy  of  note  that  even  after  Texas  had  accepted  the 
last  proposal  and  formed  a  State  Government,  and  present- 
ed its  State  constitution  to  the  American  Congress  for  rati- 
fication, there  was  an  effort  made  in  the  United  States  to 
withdraw  the  offer  and  leave  Texas  with  its  Federal  Govern- 
ment dismantled  and  statehood  rejected.  Such  a  result 
would  have  found  it  disorganized  at  home  and  friendless 
abroad,  with  Mexico 's  whole  force  marshaled  on  its  borders, 
the  very  force  which  was  hurled  against  the  armies  of  the 
United  States  in  the  war  which  followed  in  a  few  months. 
The  infamy  of  such  course  impairing  and  breaking  the 
faith  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  with  such  aw- 
ful consequences  to  Texas,  is  almost  unbelievable  to  this 
generation,  but,  though  sad,  it  is  true  that  Horace  Greeley 
advocated  it  in  the  New  York  Tribune.  And  when  the 
Congress  met  in  December,  1845,  before  whom  the  details 
of  formal  admission  must  come,  memorials  and  petitions  by 
the  thousand  were  pouring  in  from  Northern  and  Eastern 
States  urging  that  Texas  be  not  admitted.  The  Legislatures 
of  Massachusetts  and  two  other  New  England  States  joined 
in  this  demand,  and  John  Quincy  Adams  lead  a  fight  for  its 
rejection  in  the  House,  and  even  the  great  Webster  voted 
against  the  measure  when  it  passed  the  Senate  in  December, 
and  he  was  joined  in  this  vote  by  thirteen  Senators. 

The  Extraordinary  Session  of  the  Ninth  Congress  of  Tex- 
as adjourned  after  a  short  but  harmonious  session,  leaving 
the  further  details  to  the  July  convention.  In  the  interim 
news  came  of  the  death  of  Ex-President  Jackson  at  his  home, 
the  Hermitage.  He  had  played  a  powerful  part  in  the 
history  of  Texas,  as  well  as  that  of  the  United  States.  His 
anxiety  to  acquire  Texas,  dating  back  to  his  first  adminis- 
tration in  1829,  and  his  life-long  intimacy  with  Houston, 
have  given  color  to  rumors  which  will  ever  prevail  that  he 

244 


THE  LAST  ACT  IN  THE  GREAT  DRAMA  OF  ANNEXATION 

had  a  secret  understanding  with  Houston  which  aided  to 
bring  on  the  Revolution  of  1836.  His  passion  for  annexa- 
tion was  intensified  after  his  retirement  by  the  discovery 
of  British  intrigues,  for  among  the  many  ruling  passions 
of  his  long  life  was  his  deep  hatred  for  England.  He  was 
of  Scotch  ancestry,  and  during  the  American  Revolution, 
when  yet  a  mere  lad,  a  British  officer  struck  him  a  cruel 
blow  for  refusing  to  shine  the  officer's  boots,  and  he  carried 
a  scar  into  international  history. 

The  July  convention  ratified  annexation  with  but  one 
vote  against  it,  and  that  was  cast  by  Richard  Bache,  of 
Gaiveston,  a  grandson  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  This  conven- 
tion formulated  our  constitution  of  1845,  which  was  submit- 
ted to  the  people  of  Texas  in  November,  at  which  time  it  was 
ratified  and  at  an  election  held  in  December,  J.  Pinckney 
Henderson  was  elected  Governor. 

The  Constitution  was  then  presented  through  President 
Polk  to  the  American  Congress,  and  in  December,  1845,  it 
formally  admitted  Texas  into  the  Union. 

On  the  16th  of  February,  1846,  the  first  Legislature  of 
the  State  of  Texas  met  at  Austin,  and  President  Jones  for- 
mally closed  the  affairs  of  the  Republic  and  surrendered  his 
office  to  Governor  Henderson.  The  Republic  was  born  at 
Washington  on  the  Brazos  on  March  2nd,  1836,  and  the 
span  of  its  life  was  but  two  weeks  less  than  ten  years. 

The  annexation  resolution  passed  by  the  American  Con- 
gress, under  which  Texas  was  admitted,  provided:  First: 
The  State  to  be  admitted  subject  to  the  adjustment  by  this 
Government  of  all  questions  of  boundary  that  may  arise 
with  other  Governments,  and  the  constitution  to  be  formed 
by  Texas  to  be  transmitted  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  to  be  presented  to  Congress  on  or  before  January  1, 
1846.  Second:  Said  State,  when  admitted  to  the  Union, 


245 


THE  LAST  ACT  IN  THE  GREAT  DRAMA  OF  ANNEXATION 

after  ceding  to  the  United  States  all  public  edifices,  fortifi- 
cations, barracks,  forts,  harbors,  navy  and  ship  yards,  etc., 
and  all  other  means  pertaining  to  the  public  defense  belong- 
ing to  said  Republic,  shall  retain  all  the  vacant  lands  lying 
within  its  limits  to  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  its  debts. 
But  in  no  event  are  said  dejbts  to  become  a  charge  upon  the 
Government  of  the  United  States.  Third:  New  States  of 
convenient  size  not  exceeding  four  in  number  in  addition 
to  said  State  of  Texas  and  having  sufficient  population  may 
hereafter  by  consent  of  said  State  be  formed  out  of  the  ter- 
ritory thereof  which  shall  be  entitled  to  admission  under 
tEe  provisions  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  Such  States 
as  may  be  formed  out  of  the  territory  lying  south  of  36  de- 
grees and  30  degrees,  known  as  the  Missouri  Compromise 
Line,  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  with  or  without 
slavery,  as  the  people  may  desire.  And  in  such  States  as 
may  be  formed  out  of  said  territory,  north  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  Line,  slavery  shall  be  prohibited. 

The  boundaries  between  Texas  and  Mexico  had  never 
been  fixed.  The  Republic  had  always  claimed  to  the 
Rio  Grande,  and  Santa  Anna  in  his  negotiations  while 
a  prisoner  with  us  had  agreed  upon  the  Rio  Grande  as 
the  boundary.  If  you  will  look  at  the  map  you  will 
see  that  the  Rio  Grande  rises  in  Colorado  and  flows 
south  and  east  through  New  Mexico,  leaving  about  half 
of  the  latter  State  to  the  east.  The  State  of  Texas 
claimed  all  of  this  territory,  and  it  became  the  basis  of  a  very 
bitter  controversy  between  the  State  and  Federal  Govern- 
ments during  the  Taylor  administration  in  1850.  As  a  part 
of  the  celebrated  compromise  measures  in  1850,  the  present 
northern  and  western  boundaries  were  agreed  upon,  Texas 
surrendering  all  claims  to  New  Mexico,  but  receiving  for 


246 


THE  LAST  ACT  IN  THE  GREAT  DRAMA  OF  ANNEXATION 

this  concession  ten  million  dollars,  which  was  used  to 
liquidate  the  debts  of  the  Republic. 

The  annexation  of  Texas,  accomplished  in  February,  1846, 
brought  on  a  war  with  Mexico  which  began  in  the  following 
April.  The  direct  result  of  the  war  was  the  acquisition  of 
all  the  country  west  of  Texas  to  the  Pacific. 

The  war  with  Mexico  was  not  regarded  with  favor  in  the 
North  and  East,  where  the  abolition  leaders  saw  in  it  a 
scheme  to  extend  slave  territory.  The  poet  Whittier,  hear- 
ing of  the  terms  of  peace  which  the  Polk  administration 
would  impose  on  Mexico,  and  that  they  would  take  the 
country  west  to  the  ocean,  wrote  a  note  of  sympathy  to  the 
Mexican  people,  warning  them  that  the  invader  was  com- 
ing: 

"Let  the  Sacramento  herdsmen  heed 

what  sound  the  wind  brings  down, 
Of  footsteps  on  the  crisping  snow, 

from  cold  Nevada 's  crown, 
Full  hot  and  fast  the  Saxon  rides, 

with  rein  of  travel  slack, 
And  bending  o  'er  his  saddle  leaves 

the  sunrise  at  his  back. ' ' 

Even  so  the  Saxon  came  and  snatched  the  great  South- 
west from  the  doom  of  the  eternal  anarchy  which  has  pre- 
vailed south  of  the  Rio  Grande  for  these  one  hundred 
years. 


247 


